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Impact of Psychosocial Consequences of Weight Stigma in the Treatment of Obesity: an Integrative Literature Review

Abstract

This paper is an integrative review of the literature whose objective was to investigate the psychosocial consequences of weight stigma in adults and its influence on the treatment of obesity. The search involved the PubMed, Web of Science and PsycINFO databases and included articles in English and Portuguese published during the last five years. We selected 15 articles, analyzed according to the definition of two subtopics: “The relationship between stigma, psychopathologies and eating disorders” and “Stigmatization among health professionals”. The results point to the great impact of weight stigma on the psychosocial health of obese individuals and the stigmatizing attitudes of health professionals in therapeutic care. A pathological approach to coping with obesity using behavioral strategies that minimizes the understanding of the problem was observed. Currently, the treatment of obesity promoted by the biomedical model does not include the demands of a psychosocial character, which makes permanent education necessary for training of health professionals and the implementation of specific intervention protocols for this population group. The contribution of professionals from different areas, and especially those of mental health, is essential to pay attention to the various characteristics of the treatment, following an integral and humanized perspective, inserted in different psychosocial contexts. Due to the perversity of weight stigma and its serious consequences, further studies are needed to investigate it as well as the attitudes of health professionals, family members, the media and the general population towards obese individuals.

Keywords:
Stigma; Obesity; Psychosocial Consequences; Treatment; Health Professionals

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