Obesity Surgery Patients also often have mental illness

Surgical intervention can help relieve depression
Many people who have used surgical procedures to combat their overweight disease often suffer from mental illness. Often sufferers are suffering from depression or the "binge eating disorder".
Almost a quarter of all obesity surgery candidates already suffered from a mental illness. Most people develop depression. A recent study was trying to find out how the two diseases are related. Researchers from the University of California have now published the results of their research in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA)..

Surgery for obesity also relieves depression. Image: underdogstudios - fotolia

Surgeons should be aware of the mental health of obese people
For overweight people, obesity surgery is often the only way to get their obesity under control. Doctors have known so far that such patients often have mental health problems. But how widespread such mental illnesses are was unclear. "It stands out immediately that depression and so-called binge eating disorder occur more than twice as often when the patient suffers from obesity," said study author Dr. Aaron Dawes. "The good news is that the review did not provide any clear evidence that weight loss has a negative impact on mental health after surgery. There are various forms of obesity surgery, but all usually alter the digestive tract to limit the amount of food that a person can eat, "Dr. Dawes added.

Candidates would have to learn to deal with their food in a new way, both to lose weight and stay healthy. The results show how important it is to consider the mental health of obesity surgery candidates, the physician said. Doctors need to be aware that mental illness is common in such patients, and sufferers therefore need additional treatment as needed, the expert added.

Mental health usually improves after surgery
"Mental disorders are definitely prevalent among people with severe obesity, so mental health assessment is extremely important," said Drs. Bruce Wolfe, a spokesman for the Obesity Society. But the doctor emphasized that a mental diagnosis would not automatically disqualify those affected for surgery because sometimes patients would just be scared. Of course, a person with moderate depression would be treated differently than someone with suicidal thoughts. The suicide patient is certainly not a candidate for surgery. The depressed patient could get an operation and then later, for example, start treatment for depression, the scientist explained. Many sufferers generally feel better after surgery, and their depression also decreases.

However, in people with depression, after surgery, mental health may still deteriorate. Such cases are more the exception. The severity of most patients with depressive symptoms decreased by up to 70 percent. However, it would be unreasonable for someone to use surgery to treat his depression, Dr. Daves. (As)