Psychosocial considerations in gastric stapling surgery.

Thirty-one morbidly obese patients awaiting gastric stapling and 31 similar patients who had already undergone this procedure were evaluated using four psychological self-report questionnaires: Eating Disorder Inventory, Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory, Locus of Control, and a questionnaire developed by the authors. The subjects were predominantly female, had a strong family history of obesity, and reported anxiety in the pathological range. The overall results suggest that, while not a panacea, gastric stapling does confer significant benefit to morbidly obese individuals.