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 focued 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