ABSTRACT
Obese and overweight women seeking weight loss treatment report that healthcare providers are the most common source of size stigma and most report a history of receiving inappropriate comments about their weight from a doctor. In considering biases and stereotyping toward patients' weight, it is important to consider both implicit and explicit stereotypes about fat people. Explicit stereotypes consist of the things medical professionals say they think and believe about fat patients. Implicit biases are much more difficult to identify and study than explicit biases. The effects of weight stigma on health are not only mediated through patient avoidance. In fact, the stress of stigma and discrimination appears to have direct negative effects on obesity-associated diseases, especially when stigma is internalized and becomes self-stigma. Ethical principles of beneficence, nonmaleficence, integrity, justice, as well as associated enforceable ethical standards for psychologists, may all be threatened by psychotherapy for weight loss.
