Making Sense of The Story

When it comes to obesity, every patient has a story. Understanding the “how” and “when” (it began) often provides clues to the “why” and “what”, which are crucial in answering the question of why someone may have obesity.

Thus, it is not at all surprising, that a key theme emerging from our analyses of patient and provider interviews published in Clinical Obesity, was the importance of helping patients make sense of their story.

“For many, weight gain was linked to crisis events that put strain on coping resources. Sharing their perspective helped people to feel valued and acknowledged. Most importantly, it allowed for collaborative identification of root causes, linkages between life and health, contextual factors and patients’ value goals.”

One approach to this that was deemed helpful was to draw a timeline of patient’s weight throughout their life to foster insight into their weight gain story and how they relate to life events.

“This visualization of the intersecting patterns of life events and health emerged as an impactful tool and was subsequently adopted as a standard part of the 5AsT approach. Acknowledging the impact of life context on weight in an empathic dialogue helped participants to adopt an attitude of self-acceptance and increased insight into personal drivers of weight gain. Patients consistently asked to take the timeline home and reflected on the insights gained over time.”

Indeed, in my own practice, I don’t believe I have ever encountered a patient in whom, at the end of the assessment, I still had no idea why this person may have had obesity. Rather, in the majority of (dare I say all) cases, it sooner or later becomes rather evident why a given patient would have developed obesity.

Helping patients understand how seemingly unrelated life events, medical issues, or even their mental health causally relates to their obesity can not only serve as an “eye-opener” but also goes a long way to address shame and (self-) blame. The latter is an absolute pre-requisite to a constructive dialogue about possible treatment and management options.

A key learning out my own practice – never make assumptions about the “whys” of someone’s obesity – every patient has their own (often surprising) story. Taking the time to find out and make “sense” of it all is vital to the entire process of obesity management.

@DrSharma
Edmonton, AB