psych eval - ThinnerTimes - Gastric Bypass Forum, Lap Band Forum, and Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy Forum

bubbleheadmom · 01-16-2009, 10:13 PM

I am scheduled to have my nutrition classes on Feb 11th and a 4 hour psych evaluation the following week and am wondering what in the world could take 4 hours??? Just what do they do in a psych eval???

A New Life · 01-16-2009, 10:37 PM

Maybe they will give you a test. Mine was just about an hour long, chatting with the doctor about WLS and my expectations from it, along with just normal every day stuff. Very easy!

UndercoverDiva · 01-16-2009, 10:57 PM

My sister's girlfriend had the MMPI test as part of her psych eval. I need to schedule mine, so I'm curious, too.

loki8481 · 01-16-2009, 11:20 PM

there's no way my eval took 4 hours... I filled out a short questionnaire and we sat down and went over my medical history. since I don't really have one, that was pretty short (never diagnosed with any mental illnesses, never demonstrated signs of depression, etc, only saw a psych once in my life when my parents forced me to go in high school for a case of teenageritis).

we also went over whether I really understood what I was getting into, what my expectations were for the surgery, whether or not I fully realized the major life changes I'd have to make, etc.

I didn't really have any problems, but the psychiatrist did mention that she had to turn down someone a couple weeks before me because of depression-related issues.

imdaprincess1157 · 01-16-2009, 11:25 PM

welcome to T-T bubbleheadmom!

Hope you receive the same support here that I have as you embark on your weight-loss journey!! Februay 11th will be here before you blink.

A 4 hour psych eval?? That sounds alittle extreme. Mine certainly wasn't that long...maybe an hour/hour&half at most! But every doctor does it differently! Goood luck to you. Keep us updated!

BeanCloe · 01-17-2009, 02:30 AM

Welcome to TT! My Psych Eval was split into two parts. The first one was taking with the psych then I took the MMPI. Then the second session was with the result of the MMPI. Altogether it was probably 3 hours. I have heard some saying they took the test on the computer and got the results in the same day...so that could be a possibility.

Delane · 01-17-2009, 08:27 PM

Wow 4 hours, I just went for my psych eval on Friday and it was a piece of cake. I was only there about an hour. I talked to the Doctor and then took a test that was about 370 questions long. The questions are really out there. anyway I have my Nutritional eval on Tuesday and then I am all done. This has went really fast for me. I should be looking at surgery the end of Feb.

BobF4 · 01-18-2009, 03:45 AM

Bubble,

Good luck in your WLS journey! I am sure you will do fine.

They do the psychiatric evaluation to make sure you are doing it for the right reasons (such as being healthier), and not the wrong reasons (to look good).

I must say, however, my psych eval took nowhere even CLOSE to 4 hours! Mine was more like 10-15 minutes, in and out. Although, I did have to fill out questionairres beforehand. So, maybe, there is some paperwork involved.

Bama · 02-05-2009, 06:37 PM

I have heard that the psych evaluation was just a hoop the insurance company makes you jump through. I figured they would do some indept stuff about how you got to this point in your life. Of the people I have talked to most of them said it was too see if they were a drug/alcohol abuser.

TaTTeDFaTTy · 02-09-2009, 02:34 PM

Hi BubbleHeadMom!

They told me my psych eval would take 2-3 hours depending on how quickly I answered questions. I had to take a test on the computer (567 true or false questions) as well as talk to the psychiatrist/ologist. I also had to fill out a short "questionairre" when I first got there. Overall it took me about 2 hours.

Hope that helps.