Part 1: When and How to Discuss a Patient's Weight with Stephanie Sogg, PhD

Back for her second appearance is Dr. Stephanie Sogg, a clinical psychologist who has been at the MGH Weight Center since 2003. One our previous episode, we discussed the importance of language when discussing someone’s weight, so on this episode, we talk about when and how to bring it up. We talk about how body acceptance is actually important to sustained weight loss, although on the surface it may seem like a contradiction. We talk about the influence of sleep, mental health, and when it is time to make recommendations, what actually works. As with most things, it is complicated.

Dr. Sogg earned her PhD in clinical psychology from Rutgers University in 1998 and completed a post-doctoral fellowship with Harvard Medical School. In addition to her clinical work, Dr. Sogg conducts research on obesity and bariatric surgery, and the intersection between obesity and addiction, and has published widely on obesity and related topics. She is an author of the Boston Interview for Bariatric Surgery, and of the official ASMBS Recommendations for the Pre-Surgical Psychosocial Evaluation of Bariatric Surgery Patients. She is the director of the Weight Center rotation for Behavioral Medicine psychology interns and is active in national and international scientific obesity and weight loss surgery societies.