Psychiatric symptoms in clients presenting for commercial weight reduction treatment
✍ Scribed by Goldstein, Lauren T. ;Goldsmith, Scott J. ;Anger, Katharina ;Leon, Andrew C.
- Publisher
- Wiley (John Wiley & Sons)
- Year
- 1996
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 501 KB
- Volume
- 20
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0276-3478
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
Objective: To study the prevalence and severity of psychiatric symptoms in a group of clients presenting to a commercial weight reduction program, compared with a group of patients seeking outpatient medical treatment. Method: Sixty-six clients presenting for commercial weight loss treatment and 52 patients presenting for general outpatient medical treatment were given self-report measures of anxiety (Spielberger State and Trait Inventory), depression (Beck Depression Inventory), body dissatisfaction (Body Shape Questionnaire), and overall impairment in functioning (Sheehan Disability Scale). Results: Weight loss clients had significantfy higher rates of depressive syrnptomatology and psychosocial disability than patients presenting for medical treatment. Weight loss clients were also more likely to demonstrate body dissatisfaction regardless of actual weight. Levels of anxiety were not significantly different, despite the medical group reporting themselves to be in poorer health as compared with the weight loss group. Discussion: Regular screening for psychiatric symptoms in clients presenting fur commercial weight reduction treatment may be valuable as this group may constitute an as yet unidentified cohort requiring psychiatric intervention. 0 1996 by )ohn Wiley & Sons, Inc. Available data support the currently held belief that obese men and women in the community are no more likely to have clinically significant psychopathology than normal weight controls . As such, obesity is not considered a psychiatric diagnosis. However, obese patients drawn from treatment settings are more likely to exhibit psychiatric symptoms, and may be at greater risk for having comorbid psychiatric diagnoses (Goldsmith et al., 1992; Black, Goldstein, & Mason, 1992) as outlined by the