Temperament and character traits with patients with morbid obesity

Aim: In the present study, we aimed to evaluate the temperament and character traits differentiating with morbid obesity group from healthy individuals group. Material and method: The patient group of the study consisted of the morbid obese patients who was consulted to the psychiatric clinic of Bülent Ecevit University Faculty of Medicine before bariatric surgery between October 2013 and April 2014.The control group was similar to the patient group in terms of age, gender, education and marital status. The patients that did not have the diagnosis of any psychiatric disorders with SCID I were included in the healthy control group. Structured psychiatric interview for DSM-IV Axis 1 Disorders Clinical Interview was administered face to face with the patient and control group by the clinician. Then the morbid obese and control groups were asked to complete sociodemografic data form, temperament and character ınventory (TCI), beck depression and beck anxiety scale. SPSS 19.0 package software was used for statistical analysis of our cross sectional descriptive study. Results: The study group consisted of 246 cases of which 162 (%65.9) were females and 84 (%34.1) were males with an age range of 18-65 years and they were analysed in two groups as morbid obesity group (n=160) and the controls (n=86) to evaluate differentiating the temperament and character traits. Total mean point of ST2 (Transpersonal identification), HA2 (Fear of uncertainty ), HA4 (Fatigability), RD1 (Sentimentality), RD3 (Attachment), RD (Reward dependence), C1 (Social acceptance), C4 (Compassion), C5 (Pure-hearted conscience), C (Cooperativeness) of the morbid obesity group was found to be statistically significantly higher than the controls. Total mean point of NS4 (Disorderliness), NS (Novelty seeking) in the morbid obesity group was significantly lower than controls. Conclusion: We think that it is necessary to assess the temperament and character in the management of the treatment, considering certain personality traits to be effective in the pathogenesis and treatment response of obesity.