Psych visit a joke!

I just came back from my psych evaluation and it was a total joke! The guy was talking to me about post-op leaking, can't take nsaids, no grazing, blah, blah, blah. He briefly mentioned a few "psych" related topics, my childhood, if i had suicidal thoughts, etc. The entire visit was maybe 45 minutes. He asked me if I had any questions and that was it. I am not sure what I expected, but I guess i expected something more than what I got.

You got a bad one. It does happen - and I am sorry about that.

But the bigger issue, to me anyway, is what did you expect? Can you call your sugeon's office, let them know that what you got was lacking, and let them know you'd like to see someone else who can go more in-depth with you? Or do you think you've got it covered, and you're just irritated with the waste of your time?

I don't know about anybody else, but that was a lot like mine. It gave him an idea of whether I had realistic expectations, was I hiding an eating disorder, etc. I think that talking with me naturally told him a lot more than a bunch of psycho babble questions putting me on the spot. I was certainly much more relaxed.

My guy was the same way he said to take pics of my food on my smart phone to look back over each week. He didn't talk about anything I expected except he asked about home who lived with me and if they supported me. He showed me good recipe books for life after but didn't seem to go into the mental issues I would deal with after....but hey that is what you guys are for right? Free therapy!

I am glad to know i am not alone. I feel that I am OK and don't need to talk to anyone ... but after the stories I hear on OH about questionaires and the like, I guess I just expected more of a psych eval. I just feel like I am going to so many appointments, using 2 hours of sick time would probably have been better spent somewhere else. Just sayin. Maybe he felt i am "normal" enough

 That's how mine went too. Honestly, I don't even know if the psych knew what he was supposed to be doing. 

But you know, I spent a year prior preparing myself for WLS, doing my research, and seeing a counselor, so I felt that I didn't really need a psychiatrist to give me clearance anyway. It would have been nice, though, to have a thorough mental health screening to see if I had any red flags I wasn't aware of, but that didn't happen. 

I think Most psych evaluations go this way. Mine lasted 10 minutes. He asked me about 20 times if I knew what I was getting myself into and if I understood it was a total lifestyle changed. The thing is. People work themselves up into thinking that they all have these deep seeded issues that need a psych work up and they feel like those issues are going to prohibit their surgery. When really they are looking to make sure that you are capable of understanding what your getting into. They psyche eval is not meant to uncover all of your issues on why you became obese. That's what you make a follow up appointment after surgery for. lol.  So don't be mad at him/her. Be happy you don't need a psychiatrist.

 My psych eval was really short and all of his questions were really anorexia centric (very interesting to me.) he did mention I showed no red flags though and that's why we were able to cut it short. Perhaps you had the same happen.

      .oOo.oOo.oOo.oOo.Miranda.oOo.oOo.oOo.oOo.      

Mine was a joke, too. I know that it was just a technicality for the sake of insurance, but it was really ridiculous. My guy excused himself to go to the restroom at one point during our exactly 1 hour appointment (he wasn't going to go a single minute over what he was being paid for) and he even stopped our session to reply to an email!

I just had mine today and it lasted about an hour. He asked TONS of questions about my eating behaviors throughout my life, asked if I had ever been diagnosed with any mental illness, if I have ever suffered from depression, asked about my parents, family, husband, if I have a support system, if I have a good marriage, asked me to explain the surgery to him, explain what I will need to do and what I will be able to eat, and on and on and on. Then I was sent home with the MMPI and MBMD to take at home and send back to him in the next week. He said after he scores the tests he will send a copy of all his notes and the scoring of the tests to me and to my surgeon.