Psychology of Obesity

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Psychology of Obesity
Jessica Winslow
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Defining Obesity

• Body Mass Index (BMI)
• BMI 25-30 overweight
• BMI greater than 30 obese
• BMI greater than 40 morbid obese
• website to calculate BMI http//www.halls.md/bod
  y-mass-index/bmi.htm

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Obesity in our Society

• Obesity is an increasing prevalence, called an
  epidemic
• average BMI in the US is approx. 26 (standard
  deviation of 5)
• estimated that 19.9 of men and 24.9 women are
  obese

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Focus of Talk

• personality traits of obese
• psychological problems with obesity
• psychology of treatment
• mental healthcare for the obese

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Ask yourself

• Do obese people have different characteristics
  than people of normal weight?

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Certain Characteristics Contribute or Typical of
Obese Individuals?

• overcontrol of emotions and indirect expression
  of hostility
• Interpersonal traits discomfort in
  relationships, irritability, alienation,
  mistrustfulness
• Defense mechanisms rationalization
• Correlation between obesity and being the
  youngest or only child.
• greater tendency to be overprotected by parents
  or be dominated by parents

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Certain Characteristics Contribute or Typical of
Obese Individuals?

• NO global personality differences when comparing
  normal and obese individuals
• i.e. masculinity-femininity, locus of control,
  assertiveness, and self-consciousness
• DO differ when looking at measures applied to
  weight and eating
• more depressed, self-conscious, pessimistic
• less assertive
• Massively obese vs. less obese had little
  differences

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Problems associated with Obesity

• Physical mobility issues, increased risk for
  many diseases especially heart-related and
  diabetes etc.
• Ask yourself
• What are the psychological problems associated
  with obesity?
• Increased depression?
• Decreased self-esteem?

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Psychological Problems and Obesity

• self-esteem, DSM-IV major depression, body image
  distortions
• obese are less accurate at determining their body
  size
• Obese individuals estimated there weight to be
  6-12 greater
• normal weight individuals are within 1-2
• link between psychopathology and obesity???

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Psychological Problems and Obesity

• Women
• increased BMI leads to increased likelihood of
  major depression
• 37 higher probability of depression
• increased BMI leads to increased suicide ideation
• Men
• lower BMI was associated with major depression,
  suicide attempts, and suicide ideation
• obese men actually had decreased odds of
  depression
• Depression and obesity link
• serotonin dysregulation that leads to depression
  may also cause increase in consumption of
  carbohydrates to try and help serotonin levels

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Psychological Problems and Obesity, Another
Perspective

• Different study found no link between BMI and
  depression, psychopathology, anxiety, situation
  related stress
• However when asked about body or eating-related
  issues then the obese reported more concern than
  normal-weight individuals

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Psychological Problems and Obesity

• Results on relationship between psychological
  problems and obesity
• not consistent
• conflicting reports
• Does obesity or psychological issues come first?

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Treatment for Obesity

• Treatment approaches address
• physical weight problem
• diet, surgery
• psychological issues
• social troubles

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Psychological Changes as a Result of Intestinal
Bypass Surgery

• removal of a section of the intestine prevents
  absorbance of some food
• Reduced weight
• improve activity levels, mood, self-esteem,
  interpersonal, and vocational effectiveness
• decreased use of denial coping style
• more independent, confident, assertive
• Question Are the psychological aspects of
  obesity reversible?

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Treatment focused on Psychological Aspects of
Obesity

• Only recently has obesity been addressed with
  more psychological approaches.
• focus on self-acceptance, improving self-esteem
  and body image, cognitive restructuring
• treatments focused on changing perspective have
  shown improvements in self-esteem, eating
  behavior, body satisfaction, mood, and social
  functioning
• sometimes these positive psychological
  improvements occur even in the absence of weight
  loss

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Ask Yourself

• What is my perception of an obese person?
• Do I treat obese people differently?

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What do WE think of obese individuals?
depressed
asexual
lazy
lack of control
health problems
more emotional
Could that ever be me?
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Societal Discrimination Towards the Obese

• less likely to be financially supported to attend
  good colleges
• less likely to be hired and paid equally for jobs
  even when they have equal qualifications
• may be less sought after by mates
• waited on more slowly by salespersons
• less favorable treatment by healthcare
  professionals

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Mental Health Clinician Bias Against Obese

• past studies show clinician bias due to gender,
  ethnicity, and attractiveness
• study using 1 person altered to look like they
  were 3 different weights
• best-weight
• overweight 20 over best-weight
• obese 40 over best-weight
• more negative symptoms associated with overweight
  vs. obese
• especially self-injurious behavior, emotional
  behavior
• male clinicians were less critical of obese
• hypothesis that women are more sensitive to
  weight due to societal pressure to be thin
• older (not necessarily more experienced)
  clinicians were less critical of obese
• overweight clinicians are less likely to have
  negative assessment of obese
• Question Is body size extraneous to clinical
  assessment?

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Reassess Ideas Regarding Obesity

• Obese persons dont necessarily have different
  psychological characteristics.
• Obese persons dont necessarily suffer from
  none-weight related psychological problems.
• Treatment focus on psychological rather than
  physical can be beneficial.
• Be aware of biases against obese individuals.

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