Patients’ Motivations, Expectations, and Experiences

Abstract

One of the tasks of mental health professionals who take care of bariatric patients is to analyze the motivations that lead the patient to seek surgery treatment for obesity, the entire spectrum of changes the patient expects to see as a result of undergoing surgery, and the patient’s long-term experiences after bariatric surgery. Patients’ motivations, expectations, and experiences play an important role in determining if bariatric surgery is perceived by the individual patient as more or less successful. There are four main motivations driving patients to seek surgical treatment for obesity: health concerns, medical conditions, physical fitness, and appearance. Unrealistic expectations may cause poor satisfaction with surgery outcomes and lead to post-operative frustration, depression, and opposition to implement behavioral changes. Bariatric surgery is not a “magic bullet,” and patients’ unrealistic expectations should be discussed and amended during psychosocial assessment. A comprehensive assessment of short- and long-term outcomes of bariatric surgery goes far beyond just measuring weight loss and medical complications. Clinical objective measures should be integrated with patients’ subjective experiences of the impact of surgery on a variety of domains (e.g., eating behavior, body image, psychological well-being, and quality of life).