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Obesity and the Mind

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Controversies in Obesity

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Abstract

Obesity is associated with significant increases in lifetime diagnoses of mental health problems including major depression, bipolar disorder, panic disorder, or agoraphobia (Simon et al., Arch Gen Psychiatry 63:824–830, 2006), whereas people with mental illness show a growing incidence of obesity and metabolic syndrome than the general population (Stanley and Laugharne, Aust J Prim Health 18(3):258–264, 2012). Around 45 % of patients seeking help for obesity suffer Axis-1 mental health disorder (Carpiniello et al., Eat Weight Disord 17(4):e259–e266, 2012). However, links between obesity and depression are not clear-cut. In the Swedish Obese Subjects study, severely obese subjects displayed poor mental well-being – depression and anxiety to a similar or greater degree than metastatic malignant melanoma or tetraplegic patients. However, in the same study, suicide rates increased postoperatively. Possibly individuals blame their unhappiness on obesity, pin their hopes on reduction, but discover surgery does not improve their unemployment record, finances, or dire family/social circumstances.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Doctor’s Surgery, Watton Place Clinic, 60 High Street, Watton at Stone, SG143SY, UK

    David W. Haslam MBBS, DGM

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  1. David W. Haslam MBBS, DGM
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Correspondence to David W. Haslam MBBS, DGM .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Watton Place Clinic, Watton-at-Stone, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom

    David W. Haslam

  2. Department of Medicine, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

    Arya M. Sharma

  3. Department of Pathology, Diabetes Complications Research Centre, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

    Carel W. le Roux

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© 2014 Springer-Verlag London

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Haslam, D.W. (2014). Obesity and the Mind. In: Haslam, D., Sharma, A., le Roux, C. (eds) Controversies in Obesity. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-2834-2_22

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-2834-2_22

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4471-2833-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4471-2834-2

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