Abstract

TRAVADO, Luzia et al. Abordagem psicológica da obesidade mórbida: Caracterização e apresentação do protocolo de avaliação psicológica. Aná. Psicológica [online]. 2004, vol.22, n.3, pp.533-550. ISSN 0870-8231.

Morbid obesity (MO) is a pathological type of obesity considered a serious health problem to the individuals who have it. Its treatment should be based on a biopsychosocial model of the individual and his/ her illness process for assuring short and long term treatment success. The psychological approach, cognitive-behaviour based, is structured along the 3 main phases of the treatment process: (1) pre-surgery; (2) inpatient; (3) post-surgery and follow-up. The first phase of this approach corresponds to the psychological assessment of the patients that are candidates to surgery. This study presents the psychological characterization of the MO population, assessed between February 2002 and May 2004, of a hospital specialized consultation. The developed methodology includes a semi-structured interview and self-assessment questionnaires of personality (MCMI-II), anxiety and depression (HADS), quality of life (MOS-SF/20) and self-concept (ICAC). 212 patients were assessed with a mean age of 41.1 years old, and a BMI of 46.6Kg/m². We present the data and the protocol we developed for psychological assessment. We emphasize the importance of the psychological assessment for technical advice before surgery and its qualitative data for designing the psycho-educational and psychotherapeutic objectives, as fundamental to the success of the treatment process.

Keywords : Morbid obesity; psychological characterization; protocol for psychological assessment.

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