PSYCHOLOGICAL RECURRENCES AND INTERVENTION PROPOSAL FOR PATIENTS FOLLOWING BARIATRIC SURGERY

Abstract

Obesity has been declared by the World Health Organization (WHO) as an epidemic, due to a growth trend in obesity rates over the past 60 years and it is estimated that by 2015 there will be approximately 2.3 billion overweighed adults and 700 million obese adults worldwide. Bariatric surgery has shown to be the most effective intervention for the treatment of severe obesity with better long-term results. While most post-operative patients of bariatric surgery show improvement in psychopathology and quality of life, psychological recurrences have been identified thereafter. It has been reported that for people who have not been able to implement changes in their lifestyle, the result of the operation may not be optimal and may even be counterproductive with undesirable outcomes, such as recovery of lost weight, malnutrition, depression and anxiety, as well as using food as a soothing agent to stressful stimuli, present failures in following the diet, as well as dissatisfaction with the staff of the clinic In recent years the number of bariatric surgeries performed annually has tripled showing a tendency to continue increasing, psychosocial and behavioral factors play a fundamental role in the long- term effects of the surgery; for this reason, the objective of this study is to describe the main psychological recurrences after bariatric surgery as well as a proposal for post-surgical cognitive behavioral group psychological support. Key words: bariatric surgery, obesity, post bariatric surgery, psychological intervention.