Purpose: To compare the psychopathological characteristics of obese patients seeking bariatric surgery with those seeking a medical approach.
Methods: A total of 394 consecutive outpatients seeking bariatric surgery were compared with 683 outpatients seeking a medical treatment. All patients were referred to the same institution.
Results: Obesity surgery patients reported higher body mass index (BMI), objective/subjective binging and more severe general psychopathology, while obesity medical patients showed more eating and body shape concerns. Depression was associated with higher BMI among obesity surgery clinic patients, whereas eating-specific psychopathology was associated with higher BMI and objective binge-eating frequency among obesity medical clinic patients.
Conclusions: Patients seeking bariatric surgery showed different psychopathological features compared with those seeking a non-surgical approach. This suggests the importance for clinicians to consider that patients could seek bariatric surgery on the basis of the severity of the psychological distress associated with their morbid obesity, rather than criteria only based on clinical indication.