Psychological Evaluation

I had my psychological evaluation today and it didn't go the way I thought it would

I thought I would be telling my story to someone and they would be trying to get to know me so they could make a good judgment in order to clear me for surgery or give further suggestions. Instead I felt like I was rushed, and that he wasn't interested in me, my appointment or anything I had to say. He kept interrupting me, and basically just went down a checklist of questions from the bariatric center. When I tried to elaborate or explain something, he cut me off and said there's a lot of questions. Isn't the point of a therapist to LISTEN to you? Ugh I am feeling so frustrated. I feel like because I was his last appointment of the day that he didn't want anything to do with me. Or maybe he doesn't support the idea of bariatric surgery who knows.

But the point is, I am FREAKING out now thinking he's going to give me a bad report and complicate my chances of surgery.  I don't feel like he knows who I am at all, my habits or my past what so ever. Basically I am feeling frustrated, annoyed, terrified, and upset.  Maybe I'm freaking out for no reason and he will clear me on all levels - who knows.

Now it's just a waiting game aka time for me to slowly lose my mind to hear back from the bariatric center.

Has anyone else had this experience? I guess I just needed to vent to someone who could possibly understand. Has anyone had to get a second opinion therapist wise? Or did your therapist recommend some kind of additional counseling? I have no idea what to expect now!

My eval was just a test and then a list of pretty standard questions.  Unless there is something really unusual in what you told him, I would not worry about it.  This is just another hoop to jump through for him and for you.  I do recommend finding a therapist that specializes in weight and talking things through.  It can give you a lot of help and you seem to be looking for that.  

Remember, this was not an appointment for a therapy session. This was an appointment for an evaluation. I'm sure there just wasn't time for you to go into detail beyond what the bariatric center had outlined. But he could have explained that a little better.

If you answered honestly, I'm sure it went ok. Try not to worry.

I can totally relate. The 'therapist' who went over my questions wanted to know "How could you answer it this way???" I knew very quickly that I wasn't doing very well. I didn't have the surgery then, but did later after I lost some weight on my own (I went vegan) and had a talk with the surgeon. The purpose for the psych eval is to exclude anyone with an eating disorder or mental illness that would prevent their following the post-op instructions. So, the psychologist is there as a gatekeeper, he isn't there to treat you. He's looking for signs that you might eat compulsively after surgery and maybe kill yourself by tearing your new stomach or by ignoring instructions.

I'd be proactive and call the office to see how you did.

I hear ya! I thought my psych apt was total crap until I got the result saying that I was approved through the psychologist. Which I was NOT expecting at all. I had somewhat the same experience the psychologist just asked a bunch of questions and kept cutting me off whenever I would try to explain. But once I asked my surgeon he said out of about 1500 surgeries hes done so far only had 1 patient get denied through the psych eval. So that helped a lot!! I can almost guarantee you're going to be fine! Congrats on getting this far don't give up yet!

He wasn't your therapist.  He was evaluating you.  That's different.

You can certainly get a second opinion if you want.  You can also ask him what he is going to recommend in terms of you having WLS.

Exactly. I did addiction assessments for years as a part of my job as a therapist. It is simply a information gathering process. A good therapist knows not to do therapy in an assessment while also being skilled enough to probe effectively to get the most accurate information. You may be one of many assessments ( which are not very interesting for the most part) he had do in a day. 

Unfortunately, for the most part, the psych report is a formality and it sounds like you went to a doctor that does a lot of these and just wanted to get info he needed for the report and that was it.  Mine was really not much different than that, although your doctor sounds rude.  I'm sure he will give you a "passing" report, as it seems like he considers it just a formality as well and wasn't trying to get any more information than necessary from you.  If you feel that you need to speak to a therapist about issues related to food, eating and/or surgery, I strongly urge you to make an appoinment (with a different therapist).  The surgery journey is an emotional roller coaster.  I would also report to your bariatric center/surgeon your experience with this psych doctor, because maybe they should consider sending their patients elsewhere.

I wouldn't worry about the eval. It's an evaluation and mostly they are looking for red flags: substance abuse, eating disorders (because you can still definitely have an eating disorder even though you are obese), mental illness, a serious suggestion that you will be noncompliant, etc. Everyone has issues. As long as they are manageable, nobody is worried about them. 

My therapist told me to try attending support groups post-op, and that I would likely be fine with that as a form of support. If I didn't find that sufficient, then she told me I might want to try to find a therapist. I'd imagine this goes for most reasonably well-adjusted people. 

I say don't worry. The elderly lady that did mine was SO much more interested in my son coming home from prison than she was about anything I ate or did, I was afraid she wouldn't remember my case at all!  Surprise, a very nice letter of approval!