2021 Volume 61 Issue 3 Pages 254-260
Obesity is a multifactorial disease in which genetic, physiological, behavioral, psychosocial, and environmental factors contribute to its onset and clinical course. Since using non-surgical treatments such as diet, exercise, and medication often achieve limited results for weight loss, bariatric surgery has been added to treatment for obesity worldwide these past few decades, and its efficacy and safety has been attested. However, it has been pointed out that preoperative assessments of the patient's psychiatric and psychosocial status is important for bariatric surgery, because of the forced suppression of eating behavior after the operation. In Japan, laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy, which is one type of bariatric surgery, has been covered by national health insurance since April 2014, and is considered to become more frequent in treatment for obesity. Therefore, we think it necessary for mental health specialists (psychosomatic physicians, psychiatrists, psychologists, etc.) to understand procedures and assessment for this operation in advance. This section describes preoperative psychiatric and psychosocial assessments and exclusion criteria for bariatric surgery, and emphasizes the importance of information sharing among multidisciplinary teams.
