Psych eval gone wrong......

[Tokash]

I agree that less is more. I told the shrink right off the bat, that "yes, I obviously have some kind of eating disorder, otherwise I wouldn't be sitting in her office and trying to get bariatric surgery scheduled". This made her laugh. Then I immediately followed up with, " I am not depressed, I have no plan to harm myself, I don't binge and purge, I simply overeat. I have tried several diets and was successful for a while but then went back to my old ways of eating. I see this surgery not as a cure but as a tool. I know I need to change my mindset about food and I am ready to do that." She looked at me and replied, well, alright, you answered pretty much every question I was going to ask you." We both laughed and she asked a few more innocuous questions, then gave me her stamp of approval. It's sad to think that you can be nervous and say one wrong thing that might cause them to raise a red flag. I get that they want you to be successful, but to me, the fact that you have made this decision proves you have given this some thought and are ready for change. Good luck to you.

I personally think what you did is key. Direct and honest. People in the therapy world can tell when people are lying or if something is "off" in what they say. They do dig into stuff like somebody else said, because it is a long term thing and they have to make sure you are ready. There are people who can do what they have to to get to the surgery but then don't continue a healthy path. These are the people they are trying to weed out and make sure they get the help they need before hand.

Beleive it or not therapists, psychologist and psychiatrist do not go into it with the intent to screw people over.