Psychological Assessment of Surgical Candidates

Ryan J. Marek, PhD, is an assistant professor of Clinical Psychology at Sam Houston State University College of Osteopathic Medicine (SHSU-COM). Dr. Marek teaches medical students, engages in an active program of research, serves as consulting editor for both medical and psychological peer-reviewed journals, and holds a practice at SHSU Physicians clinic where he conducts various psychological assessments (including presurgical evaluations) and therapy. Dr. Marek’s program of research is focused on understanding how psychological factors contribute to medical outcomes. He currently has over 50 peer-reviewed publications mostly focused on presurgical psychological evaluations and how they predict various outcomes. Andrew R. Block, PhD, is a fellow of the American Psychological Association and is board certified in Clinical Health Psychology. He has provided presurgical psychological evaluations and chronic pain treatment for more than 40 years, the last 32 at Texas Back Institute. He has over 50 peer-reviewed publications primarily focused on psychosocial influences on spine surgery outcome, most recently studying the MMPI-2-RF and MMPI-3. He is co-developer, along with Yossef Ben-Porath, of the MMPI-2-RF spine surgery candidate and spinal cord stimulator candidate interpretive reports. He has four previous books, including Presurgical Psychological Screening: Understanding Patients, Improving Outcomes. He may be contacted at: andrewblockpsych@yahoo.com.  

INTRODUCTION. Presurgical Psychological Assessments: Historical Perspectives and Current Status
Ryan J. Marek and Andrew R. Block
CHAPTER 1: The Risk Identification and Mitigation (RIM) Model for Presurgical Psychological Assessments
Ryan J. Marek and Andrew R. Block
CHAPTER 2: Selecting and Administering Psychological Measures for Presurgical Assessments
Ryan J. Marek
CHAPTER 3: Ethical Considerations in the Assessment of Surgical Candidates
Christine D. Liff and Shane S. Bush
CHAPTER 4: Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery
Allyson Diggins and Ninoska Peterson
CHAPTER 5: Spine Surgery
Julie Murray, Jayme S. Warner, and Scott DeBerard
CHAPTER 6: Gender Embodiment Surgery
Zo Amaro Jimenez and Colt St. Amand
CHAPTER 7: Surgery for Treatment and Prevention of Breast Cancer
Andrea Bradford
CHAPTER 8: Solid Organ Transplant
Wendy Balliet, D. Brian Haver, Stacey Maurer, and Lillian Christon
CHAPTER 9: Deep Brain Stimulation for Parkinson’s Disease and Depression
Jennifer A. Foley
CHAPTER 10: Gynecologic Surgery
Andrea Bradford
CHAPTER 11: Surgical Treatment of Temporal Lobe Epilepsy
Genevieve Rayner, Honor Coleman, Emily Cockle, Andrew Neal, Charles Malpas
CHAPTER 12: Practical Suggestions for Presurgical Psychological Assessments and Future Directions for the Field
Andrew R. Block
About the Editors
Index