Obesity Surgery: Stories of Altered Lives by Marta Meana, Lindsey Ricciardi

Product Details

Synopsis

The surprising and unpredictable story of the personal and social after-effects of rapid and dramatic weight loss. Using in-depth, first person accounts of 33 men and women who underwent weight-loss surgery, this book elaborates on the complexities of finally getting what you wished for – the good, the bad, and the totally unexpected.
• Suddenly being treated well by previously dismissive strangers is embraced by some, yet it angers others who question a kindness reserved only for the non-obese.
• Attention from the opposite sex is both flattering and scary, as many have little experience dealing with such advances.
• Marriages and relationships are rocked for better and for worse, as jealousy, insecurity and shifting roles jolt previously stable dynamics.
• All the changes provoke a re-evaluation of who one is and what one values.
This is the story of how dramatic weight loss can result in personal growth, with all of its attendant joys and painful challenges. We live in a culture fascinated by physical make-overs, but no one talks about their psychological consequences. Losing a lot of weight is perhaps the most extreme make-over of all. It leaves people emotionally changed. These changes are the heart of our book. The fascinating narratives contain important lessons for individuals considering or having had the surgery and for those who try to help them. The material will be of personal significance to the lay-person but it is also a guide for health providers in the design of pre- and post-operative support interventions. At a more basic level, it issimply a story of how finally getting what you’ve always wished for can be much more complicated affair than you ever imagined.

Biography

Marta Meana, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas with an expertise in women’s health and sexuality. She obtained her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from McGill University, completed a pre-doctoral internship in Behavioral Medicine and Outpatient Psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego and a post-doctoral fellowship in Women’s Health at the Toronto Hospital. She has published and lectured extensively on issues of concern to the health of women and is an active member and officer in multiple professional organizations. Dr. Meana has also won numerous awards for her research and teaching.

Dr. Lindsey Ricciardi received her Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. She completed her professional internship and postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Chicago Hospitals Eating and Weight Disorders program where she helped to develop and direct the behavioral services division of the hospitals bariatric surgery program. Her research investigating the psychological and social aspects of weight loss surgery has been presented at numerous national and international conferences. Together with her husband Dominic, a bariatric physician, she runs Creative Health Solutions,an interdisciplinary weight management program in Las Vegas, Nevada, where she serves as Director of Behavioral Health Services.