Gelisim News

Psychiatric evaluation is significant in bariatric surgery!

Bariatric surgery is becoming more and more common in Turkey as well as in the world. Emphasizing the importance of psychiatric findings in bariatric surgery, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Güzin M. Sevinçer stated that patients should be routinely evaluated for eating disorders, psychiatric and psychosocial disorders before and after the procedure.

The significance of psychiatric and psychosocial evaluation in bariatric surgery is increasing day by day. Accordingly, many weight loss surgery centers apply a multidisciplinary patient evaluation approach, which also includes psychiatric and psychosocial evaluation. There is no consensus guide that has been accepted in the world on this subject yet. In this context, there are different expert consensus texts and they are taken into account by health authorities.

ROUTINE TREATMENT AND FOLLOW-UP ARE REQUIRED

The importance of psychiatric evaluation in bariatric surgery has not yet received the attention it deserves by bariatric surgeons, patients and even mental health professionals. Whether a psychiatric evaluation is necessary, how the evaluation methods should be, the qualifications and competencies of the people who will make the evaluation, the quality and adequacy of the evaluation are among the topics that need to be discussed. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Güzin M. Sevinçer, a faculty member at Istanbul Gelisim University Faculty of Economics, Administrative and Social Sciences, Department of Psychology, made a statement on the subject: “Bariatric surgery patients should be routinely evaluated in terms of eating disorders and other psychiatric and psychosocial disorders before and after the surgical procedure, and the necessary cases should be submitted to psychiatry evaluation for more careful treatment and follow-up.”

EXPERT CONSENSUS GUIDELINES MUST BE BUILT

Careful consideration of patients in terms of psychiatric and psychosocial aspects is an essential issue in terms of preventing negative effects on weight loss after surgery as well as increasing the quality of life individually. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sevinçer underlined that expert consensus guidelines should be built to discuss these issues on the relevant platforms and demonstrate a common approach.