DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2014.v02i06.028

Pages: 2078-2082

Obesity is a complex, chronic disorder with potentially serious medical, psychiatric and psychological morbidity. Society has created a widely accepted physical stereotype regarding thinness and beauty. The stigma of obesity, and particularly the prejudice and overt discrimination create enormous distress and hampering in social functioning. Obese individuals who seek treatment may suffer greater levels of social anxiety and are more likely to experience body image concerns, e.g. thinking of their body as “grotesque”. So, my purpose is to screen for social phobia in obese patients. Research was carried out in the obesity clinic, The Ramakrishna Ashram Hospital, Rajkot. Subjects’ general data were filled in Socio-demographic Performa sheet and The Social anxiety was screened by Mini-SPIN scale. Out of 100 patients, female patients (29%) were having more social anxiety than male patients. Regarding the correlation with severity of obesity, mild and severe obese patients were having more social anxiety than pre-obese and moderately obese patients (44 % and 50% respectively). In our study we found that obese patients are likely to have more social anxiety and it need to be addressed in comprehensive treatment plan of obesity.