Dr. Karin Schwartz on Treatment

Share this video
ContributorDr. Karin SchwartzRead Full Bio

Biography

Dr. Karin Schwartz received her Doctorate of Psychology degree from the California School of Professional Psychology, at the Alliant International University in San Francisco, California. For the past 14 years, Dr. Schwartz has focused her clinical work primarily on the assessment and treatment of substance abuse and other addictions, eating disorders, bariatric/weight loss surgery evaluations and treatment, various anxiety disorders (OCD, Social Anxiety and Panic Disorders) and relationship struggles. Dr. Schwartz highlights the mental aspects that are intertwined with obesity and how they need to be managed during the weight loss process. For many of her patients food is a coping mechanism. “They celebrate with food. They mourn with food. They grieve with food. It becomes a friend to them. It becomes a companion.” She also warns that with the significant weight loss comes the possibility of transference addiction so when food is no longer an option, people turn to sex or drinking or shopping and other addictions to deal with those feelings.

  • The Journey
  • The Stories
ContributorDr. Karin SchwartzRead Full Bio

Biography

Dr. Karin Schwartz received her Doctorate of Psychology degree from the California School of Professional Psychology, at the Alliant International University in San Francisco, California. For the past 14 years, Dr. Schwartz has focused her clinical work primarily on the assessment and treatment of substance abuse and other addictions, eating disorders, bariatric/weight loss surgery evaluations and treatment, various anxiety disorders (OCD, Social Anxiety and Panic Disorders) and relationship struggles. Dr. Schwartz highlights the mental aspects that are intertwined with obesity and how they need to be managed during the weight loss process. For many of her patients food is a coping mechanism. “They celebrate with food. They mourn with food. They grieve with food. It becomes a friend to them. It becomes a companion.” She also warns that with the significant weight loss comes the possibility of transference addiction so when food is no longer an option, people turn to sex or drinking or shopping and other addictions to deal with those feelings.

  • Video Description

Dr. Schwartz talks about her role in the psychological evaluation for pre-bariatric surgery patients and how it is really designed to see if the person would be an appropriate candidate.  “Oftentimes when people want to have the surgery, they will say and do anything possible just to get me or anybody else to approve them, but since it is lifelong and since it is permanent, you've got to really make sure the person is a good candidate.

More Related Videos


Discussion

HIPAA disclaimer:

Remember that your posts are public. Please do not include information in the text of your comment that personally identifies you, such as your your location, financial information, or other private information.

Other disclaimers:

PatientTalk reserves the right to delete comments that are vulgar, offensive or abusive, or which incite violence or contain fraudulent info, spam, porn, personal attacks or graphic images. Individual comments and responses do not necessarily reflect the views of PatientTalk.