PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS IN OBESITY MANAGEMENT
Obesity should now be seen for what it is; a chronic, complex disease that requires sensitive and comprehensive care. Obesity is a diagnostic condition based, not on weight alone, but on poor health, impaired functioning and reduced quality of life. The Canadian Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Management of Obesity In Adults (2020) is designed to provide an evidence-based, ethical and compassionate approach to the understanding and management of this condition.
My involvement in obesity management is from a psychological perspective. In this page I will illustrate some of the important psychological issues in obesity management
APPRECIATING THE PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
Obesity management requires a shift from the selective focus on weight and shape to a focus on health, function and quality of life. Here is some of my work to help promote this shift from the superficial to the essential
THE GRAND APOLOGY
Healthcare providers have contributing to the general bias against obesity that is endemic to our culture. As healthcare providers learn to appreciate that weight is not only an individual responsibility, but a complex chronic condition, they need to shift the nature of their relationship with the individual. Why should someone who has been discriminated against over and over throiughtourt the years suddenly trust their provider to support them? Well, they should not. It falls to the provider to shift this relationship dynamic. Click on his link to see a video in which I describe how this can happen; what I call the grand apology:
QUALITY OF LIFE AND PSYCHOLOGICAL WELL-BEING IN OBESITY MANAGEMENT: IMPROVING THE ODDS OF SUCCESS BY
MANAGING DISTRESS
International Journal of Clinical Practice, 2016,70:196-205
“IT IS NOT THE DIET; IT IS THE MENTAL PART WE NEED HELP WITH.” A MULTILEVEL
ANALYSIS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL, EMOTIONAL, AND SOCIAL WELL-BEING IN OBESITY
International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-Being. 2017,12