Journal of Obesity & Weight Loss Therapy
Open Access

Abstract

Improvements in emotional status are believed to be a vital outcome of a successful bariatric surgery. Although In Israel bariatric surgery has grown in popularity, very few studies have investigated the prevalence of these aspects among pre-operative candidates. This study was aimed to assess suicidal Ideations, Psychiatric symptoms [depression, anxiety, somatization], and psychosocial aspects [emotional eating and body image] prior to surgery among Eighty seven Bariatric candidates recruited from the Surgical Division at Tel-Aviv Sourasky Medical Center. The Results shows that about 5% of the participants exhibited suicidal ideation / attempts during the last year. Approximately 14% had a moderate to severe symptoms of Major Depressive disorder, 17% reported on moderate to severe levels somatization and about quarter of them, (24.1%) had a negative body image. In addition, depressed candidates showed higher levels of somatization and of anxiety and were more likely to engage in emotional eating behaviors compare to non-depressed. Somatization and emotional eating engagement were found to predict depressive symptoms. These results emphasize the importance of mental health assessment suicidal behaviors and psychiatric symptoms during bariatric preoperative assessment.

Biography

Sami Hamdan is an Assistant Professor at the Academic College of Tel-Aviv Jaffa. He completed his graduate studies in Clinical Psychology at Bar-Ilan University. As a Fulbright scholar, he spent his Post-doctoral fellowship at Western Psychiatric and Clinic Institution, University of Pittsburgh, with Prof. David Brent. His academic research focus is on suicidal behaviors, psychopathology and mental health promotion from multicultural and across cultural frameworks and perspectives. He is closely associated and member of the professional committee of non-governmental organizations designed to promote suicide prevention.

Email: samihamd@mta.ac.il