Psychologist Questions Psychologist

Can a psychologist help with obesity?

I have obesity and want to treat it. Can a psychologist help with obesity?

5 Answers

Hello -- this question is a hard one for me to answer because as an eating disorder specialist, I look at "obesity" differently than the rest of the world. I believe that we live in a criminally fat phobic culture that shames people into losing weight with attempts at diets despite the actual outcome data of dieting which shows that over 90% of dieters either 1) do not lose weight from the attempted diet or 2) gain back all the weight they have lost if not more. Therefore, when doctors, families, partners, or society say that you need to lose weight, they are asking for something that all evidence says is biologically impossible and therefore only creating shame. Or, they are asking you to adopt an eating disorder and/or a very toxic relationship with food and body that can take over so much of your spirit. So, I teach people about biological set point (the weight your biology and genetics wants you to be), intuitive eating/food freedom, as well as Health at Every Size (HAES). There is a whole evidence-based movement against the idea that people in large bodies are unhealthy. You can learn more here: https://asdah.org/health-at-every-size-haes-approach/.

At Resolve Psychological Services, we orient you to the eating disorder recovery culture. Our work is to figure out how to accept our bodies at their set points, and also validate the difficulty of that given the cultural context in which we live. We are centered in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), so we work on changing the conversation with the self in regards to the self-hating messages that so many of us have internalized. The work is beautiful, as are you. Call us today at Resolve Psychological Services.

https://www.resolvepsychologicalservices.com/
An eating disorder specialist can help people whose obesity is caused by binge eating disorder. Such specialists can be psychologists, social workers, licensed professional counselors, and other licensed mental health professionals. For people who want to undergo bariatric surgery, they are usually also required to undergo a psychological evaluation before being cleared for it. In most states, only licensed psychologists can complete such testing.
Hello Yes. Psychologist can help with obesity. There are psychologist who specialize in eating issues. If you have insurance, check with your insurance company to see which psychologist list eating issues as one of their specialties. Thank you Dr La Flamme Sent from my iPhone=
A psychologist can help with the "mindset" of why we sabotage ourselves with food. However, a psychologist can't help with the physiological reasons that our body stores more than it chooses to burn. That is based more on genetics. To get the best treatment for obesity, go to: https://obesitymedicine.org/find-obesity-treatment/ and find a specialist in your area that can help all facets of being able to lose the weight and keep it off.
See this link...
https://www.apa.org/topics/obesity