title: Emotion regulation and mental well-being before and six months after bariatric surgery.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  According to the current state of research, mental health improves due to bariatric surgery. However, improvements in weight and psychosocial aspects often show a gradual decline with time. As emotion regulation (ER) appears to be a key variable in the successful outcome of weight loss treatments, the present study aimed at investigating ER-strategies applied by bariatric surgery candidates pre- and post-surgery and examining interactions between ER, depressive symptoms, health-related quality of life (HrQoL), and post-surgical weight loss.
  
  
  METHODS
  Prior to and 6 months after bariatric surgery, 45 patients (76% women) completed self-report questionnaires assessing depressive symptoms (Beck Depression Inventory-II), HrQoL (Short Form-36 Health Survey), and ER-strategies (Emotion Regulation Inventory for Negative Emotions).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Six months post-surgery, the patients reported significant improvements in depressive symptomatology, HrQoL, and satisfaction with ER compared to pre-surgery. Groups differing in their course of ER-satisfaction also differed in psychosocial dimensions pre- to post-surgery, increased satisfaction being related to less impairment and enhanced communication of negative emotions as a form of an adaptive regulation. Patients with higher weight loss applied the strategy of controlled expression more frequently post-surgery than pre-surgery and compared to patients with lower weight loss.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Postoperative weight loss leads to improvements in ER-satisfaction and mental well-being. As satisfaction with ER seems to be associated with less impaired mental well-being among bariatric surgery candidates, presumably even more positive psychosocial outcomes could be obtained post-surgery by implementing trainings explicitly encouraging the use of adaptive ER-strategies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Psychology: Health, Development, Enhancement, Intervention, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Liebiggasse 5, 1010, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Christiane
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Efferdinger
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Psychology: Health, Development, Enhancement, Intervention, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Liebiggasse 5, 1010, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Dorothea
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: König
authors.affiliation: Krankenhaus der Barmherzigen Schwestern, Stumpergasse 13, 1060, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Klaus
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Psychology: Health, Development, Enhancement, Intervention, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Liebiggasse 5, 1010, Vienna, Austria. reinhold.jagsch@univie.ac.at.
authors.forename: Reinhold
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3864-6048
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jagsch
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D050110:Bariatric Surgery / Q000523:psychology*; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health; D008875:Middle Aged; D009767:Obesity, Morbid / Q000523:psychology / Q000601:surgery*; D011184:Postoperative Period; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Bariatric surgery; Depressive symptoms; Emotion regulation; Health-related quality of life; Mental well-being