Dr. Karin Schwartz on Support & Communication

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. offers advice to caregivers “that it is important to not try to control the situation or the behavior of their loved one who has gone through weight loss surgery.”  “Part of the big issue with people struggling to lose weight is control.  And people get to place of being overweight by feeling that food is the only thing in their environment that they can control, ultimately what goes in and out of their body.” She also advises caregivers to be aware of transference addiction “because people that can no longer use food because simply physiologically they can't will oftentimes go to drugs, alcohol, shopping to replace their food addiction.

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.