Midnight Mystery

This chapter discusses the treatment of night eating syndrome (NES) in an obese man seeking bariatric surgery. There is some evidence to suggest that the prevalence of NES increases with higher body mass and is relatively common in the bariatric surgery population. NES is considered to be a contraindication for surgery by many bariatric surgery programs. Therefore, targeted treatment is often necessary prior to approval for surgery. Although research is still emerging in regards to treatment of NES, current approaches include pharmacologic, biologic, and behavioral or cognitive-behavioral interventions. The authors describe the application of key treatment approaches in the current case and differentiate NES, sleep-related eating disorder, and binge eating disorder.