Gastric surgery and restraint from food as triggering factors of eating disorders in morbid obesity.

UNLABELLED: Obese patients may share some clinical features with anorexia nervosa patients because they risk developing an eating disorder when they diet. Methods and Results Some common etiological, psychological, and social factors have been proposed for both disorders. We present two cases of patients suffering from morbid obesity who, after weight loss, presented an intense fear of regaining weight and developed anorexic-like symptoms. In the first case, the symptoms appeared after gastric reduction surgery. In the second case, a strict diet was the triggering factor. DISCUSSION: This paper stresses the need for psychiatric evaluation of all patients with morbid obesity who seek treatment in clinical settings, in order to identify the factors that may lead to psychiatric complications. Copyright 2002 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.