Psychological Considerations for Patients with Severe Obesity Presenting for Surgery

Population studies have shown that individuals with severe obesity are at greatly elevated risk for lifetime and/or current depression ( 2 , 5 , 6 ), and this seems to be more true of women with severe obesity than it is for men (7) . Studies of patients presenting for WLS have found lifetime prevalence rates of depression up to 50% ( 4 , 8 ).