So had my psych evaluation yesterday evening. This is required by my surgeon before *any* surgery takes place.
There were 2 questionaires that the testing required. What can I say..some of the questions were beyond odd. The first one was pretty straight forward. 230 questions, mostly about how I feel about myself in a general sort of way.
The second one? 567 or so questions. Some of them were reasonable. Some of them, not so much. It had questions like ***”I can control events with the mind powers the aliens gave me.” And ***”Everywhere I go people stare at me.” I had NO idea how to answer some of them as they were pretty vague and completely dependent upon your interpretation. I just answered them “false” as I couldn’t place what the question’s context was.
Also had a chat with the psychologist. He seemed pretty nice and was obviously trying to put me at my ease. I tend to ramble when I am nervous and was trying to curb that particular impulse.
At any rate, I am now waiting for the response from the him. Hopefully, I can get all this done in time to have the surgery by the insurance company’s cutoff date.
***Paraphrasing these questions but not by much.
The Process 
ummm what kind of surgery?
-DS
“Live from baghdad”
Gastric bypass surgery.
ah good deal, I know about a handful of people who have had the proceedure. It’s a good catapult into changing lifestyle and eating habits for lasting change.
-DS
“Live from Baghdad”
That’s why I’m doing it. I’d like to be healthy and thinner for once in my adult life.
*nods* as long as you’re ready for the follow-up plastic surgery for the excess skin.
-DS
‘Live from Baghdad”
Yeah, but not for at least a year mebbe two. I wanna make sure my weight/health has stabilized before I put it through any more surgeries.
Plus, I am given to understand that plastic surgery *hurts*!
Well…DO you use the powers the aliens gave you? 😉
I only use my powers for good, of course. *laugh*
Are you having a sex change?
Gastric bypass surgery. 🙂
Wow, major tests! I’m wondering if I’ll have to do something like that? Probably best to reign in the smart-arse responses, huh? *g*
The woman that I work with who managed to get WLS before our insurance excluded it had to see the psych three times. The first two times, he denied her as ‘unacceptable’. She fought it until they sent her to one other, and then she dressed up, fixed herself up and basically lied her way through the interview. ::sigh::
*damn* I hope I pass
*nerves*
Oh no – I should have explained. This woman refused to do *anything* the doctors told her because ‘she didn’t *have* to’. She kept drinking, smoking (legal and illegal things), and stuff like that. She’s a biker chick (old) and basically told the psychologist that this was ‘stupid sh*t’.
YOU shouldn’t have a bit of trouble – you seem serious and commited to this surgery.
Sorry, I should have explained better before. 😦
I’ll make a formal announcement later but I got a call from my surgeon’s office. They got the results from the psychologist’s office already. Everything was fine!
:::whew!!!!!!!!:::
thank you for you (all’s!) support.
reign in the smart-arse responses
Yeah. Although I was sorely tempted by some of those questions.
Yes, Doctor. I DO feel as if people are staring at me constantly. I can’t take it anymore ::beats breast dramatically::
Prolly wouldna gone over well.
Wha? There were no questions about the red and blue crystals and the…oh, never mind…*hides*
Nope, and I figured it was a good bet to NOT mention blue and red time crystals to the nice psychologist. *giggle*
thinking good thoughts for you about this operation….I know you have wanted this for a long time. I am about to have a LOT of time off…I really cant afford to go out to lunch, but perhaps we could make lunch some afternoon.
I would love to get together. And after next week, I’ll be a cheap date! 😉 Broth and soup and SF popsicles!
I am going for 2 weeks on a MUCH needed camping trip…I get back around labour day..are you at the same number?
Yep! Looking forward to hearing from you.
was the 567 one the MMPI? I had to do that one, and man, was my hand tired of filling in those stupid scanTRON circles. Heh…right after my MMPI, I had to talk to the psychologist gal, and of course, as always I started to tear up when she asked me why I want this surgery. GAH! I played it off as an allergy. Stupid Tears.
So when will you know a date?
Congrats for getting through the psych eval. I was a bit worried about mine, too…but really they just wanna weed out the wackos.
Sounds like it to me
I used to be a psych study guinea pig (hey, it paid pretty good when I was a starving university student), so I’ve taken the MMPI more times than I can count. They’ve actually changed some of the questions over the years.
The last time I took it was during my neuropsych evaluaion. I musta passed, coz it got me into the headbone program at BoneHead College. The cool thing about being a head injury case, is that I get to register before any of the “normal” students, so I get first pick of all the courses 🙂
Re: Sounds like it to me
*giggle*
Aren’t some of the questions, well…odd? I am making some light of them – obviously the questions don’t *really* ask about red and blue time crystals and the like. But some of them come pretty darn close.
cool thing about being a head injury case, is that I get to register before any of the “normal” students, so I get first pick of all the courses 🙂
Would this apply to someone who has Asperger’s Syndrome as well?
Re: Sounds like it to me
Aren’t some of the questions, well…odd?
True. Some of them are cleary designed to detect major psychological disorders, such as schizophrenia or bi-polar disorder, but others just sound like they were written by a member of a strange religious cult.
Would this apply to someone who has Asperger’s Syndrome as well?
Not in the program that I am in, which is only for those with an acquired brain injury. BoneHead College does have a program for people with developmental disablilties (and some but not Asperger’s folk get slotted in with them), but it’s maily job preparation stuff.
I think that at BHC, the Asperger’s people would get individual attention through the Centre for Students with Disabilities, just like people with FAS/FAE (Fetal Alcohol Syndrome/Effect) do. The folks with ADD or FAS get adapted learning strategies, and accomodations for test taking, but they don’t get priority registration AFAIK.
It was indeed the MMPI. Aren’t I right about some of those questions? Weird, weird, weird.
I did hear back via the surgeon’s office. They won’t set in stone the date of your surgery until that psych eval comes back “normal”. Whatever that may mean to them.
Apparently, I am normal. 🙂 Or normal enough. The nice lady at the hosptial called with my pre-op information/date. Wheee! 730 AM next Thursday. I will already be on the clear liquids as of Wednesday. Then a small fast for the pre-op stuff and *then*? You guessed it. More clear liquids until the fast Thursday night for surgery the next day. I imagine I’m gonna wake up actually hungry. Or not….
Congratulations! I’m glad that you’re going to be done so soon. I think I must be in the SLOWEST program in the world.
Me too.
And you will get to where you need to be – when you need to be there. *hugs*