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Multidisciplinary Approach to Obesity Management: A Case Report
Published on: May 30, 2025
Taking action to lose weight: toward an understanding of individual differences
Rachel A Annunziato1, Michael R Lowe
1Mount Sinai School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, One Gustave L. Levy Place, Box 1230, New York, NY 10029, USA. rachel.annunziato@mssm.edu
Abstract:
The purpose of the present study was to understand differences in obese/overweight individuals who do and do not seek ongoing external assistance for weight loss. Help-seeking was examined as a dichotomous and as a continuous variable. Measures of body mass index, comorbid medical conditions, socioeconomic status, psychological distress, disordered eating behavior, body image, and obesity-related knowledge were administered to a community sample of 120 overweight women (age: 22-65 y, BMI: 25-63 kg/m(2)). Fewer predictors of help-seeking were identified when measuring help-seeking as a dichotomy than when measuring it as a continuum. All predictors were from psychosocial domains, with obesity-related knowledge being the strongest, most consistent predictor. Help-seeking for weight control in a community sample of overweight and obese individuals appears to be motivated by psychological aspects of obesity, rather than obesity's physical or medical burden.
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