The effect of defense mechanisms and eating awareness on the probability of suicide after bariatric surgery

Objective: This study aims to investigate the relationship between suicide possibilities, defense mechanisms, and eating awareness of patients who have undergone bariatric surgery. Method: The study sample consisted of 101 patients who had bariatric surgery in a private hospital. People who had at least six months from the date of surgery, who had no pregnancy, and who did not give birth after surgery were included in the study. The Mindful Eating Questionnaire, Suicide Probability Scale, and the Defense Style Questionnaire were applied to the participants. Results: While the average age of the sample was 52.46±9.72, 54.5% (n=55) were male. Within one year after the operation, 33.7% of (n=34) patients had lost weight between 21-30 kg, while 21.8% (n=22) had lost weight between 11-20 kg. Suicide probability scale scores are predicted by emotional eating (β=0.272, p=0.004), neurotic defense mechanism (β=0.284, p=0.003) and current body mass index (β=0.258, p=0.008). Conclusion: The possibility of suicide after bariatric surgery is closely related to emotional eating, neurotic defense mechanisms, and body mass index. The solution to the problem of emotional eating rather than decreasing the body mass index may be more effective in decreasing the suicide possibilities of the patients. Therefore, in patients undergoing bariatric surgery, emotional eating is one of the problems that should be handled both before and after surgery.