Am J Psychiatry 1976; 133:527-531
Copyright © 1976 by American Psychiatric Association
Behavioral changes following surgery for obesity
MJ Mills and AJ Stunkard
The authors interviewed 69 subjects who had had jejuno-ileal bypass surgery
for obesity to determine the relationship between weight loss and eating
behavior after surgery. All patients had been extremely overweight; at an
average of 37 months after surgery, their mean weight was reduced by 39%.
There were four significant postoperative changes: voluntary restriction of
food intake, "normalization" of eating patterns, resistance to eating
during intense emotion, and far less dysphoria during postsurgical weight
loss than during previous weight loss efforts. The authors therefore
suggest that factors other than impaired intestinal absorption may account
for some portion of postsurgical weight loss.
