Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)

1. Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)

2. OVERVIEW The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) was designed to help identify personal, social and behavioral problems in psychiatric patients. Its use has, over the years, been greatly expanded. The original MMPI was developed at the University of Minnesota Hospitals and first published in 1942. The original authors of the MMPI were Starke R. Hathaway, PhD, and J. C. McKinley, MD.

3. INTRODUCTION The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) is a psychological test that assesses personality traits and psychopathology. It is primarily intended to test people who are suspected of having mental health pathology or other clinical issues. It is one of the most important measures of personality (which is used primarily to assess deviations from a “normal” or “average” personality) and is a valid test used around the world to identify personality and psychological disorders.   The MMPI is considered a protected psychological instrument, meaning it can only be given and interpreted by a psychologist trained assess psychological disorders.  

4. HOW IS IT DONE? While it’s commonly administered by computer nowadays, psychological testing is nearly always preceded by a clinical interview by the psychologist who is doing the testing. After the computer scores the test results, the psychologist writes up a report interpreting the test results in the context of the person’s history and current psychological concerns. It requires at least 5 th grade literacy level

5. HISTORICAL OVERVIEW 1937: Neuropsychiatrist J.Charnley Mckinley & Clinical psychologist Starke. R. Hathaway , at the University of Minnesota Hospital collaborated to create the MMPI based on need that intersected their areas of expertise (represented an unusual collaboration between the two professions) Why create the MMPI? existing self-report questionnaires too transparent (easily manipulated) Existing inventories didn’t capture the wide repertoire of psychopathology present in the population (wake of WW2) Objectives/goals to create a valid tool that could easily assist in routine assessment of patients in the clinical setting To determine the level of severity of a patients condition/presenting pathology

6. HISTORICAL OVERVIEW 1940: empirical approach taken. Normative samples used. created a wide pool of test items to identify a wider variety of valid personality traits 1942: a manual for the MMPI was published based on normative data to identify clinical personality traits 1950’s: MMPI became most widely used & accepted test to identify psychopathology & problematic personality 1976: MMPI translated in over 50 languages

7. UTILITY OF THE TEST Where was the MMPI used? Clinical settings -(first intended use) Correctional settings – to detect psychopathology & problematic personality types Military personnel assessment Interviewing candidates for high risk jobs

8. Limitations of the MMPI (original version) Original norms became outdated & no longer considered representative of the US population some content considered offensive due to its religious & sexual content MMPI created for adult use (16yrs+) and revision needed to include adolescent population

9. REVISIONS 1950’s: MMPI-A

10. REVISIONS 1980’s: MMPI 2

11. REVISIONS 2008: MMPI-2-RF

12. HISTORICAL SUMMARY The University of Minnesota Hospital, department of Psychiatry that they described the MMPI “as an objective aid in the routine psychiatric case work-up of adult patients and as a method of determining the severity of the conditions”  (Dahlstrom, 1972, p. 4). The new test was to be a departure from existing self-report personality inventories, which were viewed as too transparent and, therefore, vulnerable to manipulation by test takers and too narrow to serve as omnibus measures of psychopathology.  The original Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) was published in 1940 and the second revised version—the MMPI-2—was published in 1989. It is the most widely used psychometric test for measuring adult psychopathology in the world. MMPI MMPI-II

13. PUBLICATIONS The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-Adolescent (MMPI-A)of ages of 14 to 18 was published in 1992 (Butcher et al., 1992). Adolescent normative data were collected, items relevant to this population were written, and adolescent-specific scales were constructed. Completion of the MMPI-2-RF was accomplished by development of sets of Higher-Order Scales, Specific Problems and Interest Scales, revised PSY-5 Scales, and new and revised Validity Scales to produce a comprehensive measure that fully utilized the rich substance of the MMPI-2 item pool. The MMPI-2-RF was published in 2008 (Ben- Porath & Tellegen , 2008/2011; Tellegen & Ben- Porath , 2008/2011, Ben- Porath , 2012). MMPI- 2-RF MMPI-A

14. So what does the MMPI look like? The MMPI-2 has 10 clinical scales and 4 validity scales It contains a total of 567 True/False items and takes 60-90mins to complete The MMPI-RF is shorter with 338 True/False test items The clinical scales identify pathology & problematic personality characteristics The 4 validity scales determine whether the test takers responses are valid NB: the MMPI requires at least 5 th grade literacy level

15. Abbreviation Description What Is Measured No. of Items Hs Hypochondriasis Concern with bodily symptoms 32 D Depression Depressive symptoms 57 Hy Hysteria Awareness of problems and vulnerabilities 60 Pd Psychopathic deviate Conflict, struggle, anger, respect for society’s rules 50 MF Masculinity/femininity Stereotypical masculine or feminine interests/behaviors 56 Pa Paranoia Level of trust, suspiciousness, sensitivity 40 Pt Psychasthenia Worry, anxiety, tension, doubts, obsessiveness 48 Sc Schizophrenia Odd thinking and social alienation 78 Ma Hypomania Level of excitability 46 Si Social introversion People orientation 69

16. INTERPRETATION OF RESULTS To interpret the results, the clinician looks at the pattern of responses across the different subscales and makes a diagnosis about the potential psychological problems facing the patient. Although clinicians prefer to interpret the patterns themselves, a variety of research has demonstrated that computers can often interpret the results as well as can clinicians.   Extensive research has found that the MMPI-2 can accurately predict which of many different psychological disorders a person suffers from.   One potential problem with a measure like the MMPI is that it asks people to consciously report on their inner experiences.

17. VALIDITY The MMPI-2 is not a valid measure of a person’s psychopathology or behavior if the person taking the test does so in a way that is not honest or frank. A person may decide, for whatever reasons, to over report (exaggerate) or underreport (deny) the behavior being assessed by the test.

18. VALIDITY SCALES The Lie (L) scale is intended to identify individuals who are deliberately trying to avoid answering the MMPI honestly and in a frank manner. The F scale is intended to detect unusual or atypical ways of answering the test items, like if a person were to randomly fill out the test. The K scale is designed to identify psychopathology in people who otherwise would have profiles within the normal range. It measures self-control, family and interpersonal relationships. People who score highly on this scale are often seen as being defensive.

19. SUMMARY OF DIFFERENCES The MMPI is currently commonly administered in one of two forms — the MMPI-2, which has 567 true/false questions, and the newer MMPI-2-RF, published in 2008 and containing only 338 true/false items. While the MMPI-2-RF is a newer measure and takes about half the time to complete (usually 30 to 50 minutes), the MMPI-2 is still the more widely used test because of its existing large research base and familiarity with psychologists. (Another version of the test — the MMPI-A — is designed exclusively for teenagers.) The inventory is composed of 567 True or False items, and includes the same 13 scales of the MMPI and MMPI-2, as well as a few additional validity and content scales.

20. USES The test helps provide relevant information to aid in problem identification, diagnosis, and treatment planning for a client and it has often been used in job screening and other non-clinical assessments. Some of the uses, both accepted and controversial, include: Criminal justice and corrections e.g. assessing the mental state of defendant  Evaluation of disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder, clinical depression and schizophrenia  Identification of suitable candidates for high-risk public safety positions such as nuclear power plant workers, police officers, airline pilots, medical and psychology students, firefighters and seminary students.  Assessment of medical patients and design of effective treatment strategies, including chronic pain management  Evaluation of participants in substance abuse programs  Support for college and career counseling  Marriage and family counseling

21. CRITICISM Critics have raised issues about the ethics and validity of administering the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), especially for non-clinical uses.  However, ethical use of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) or other psychological test means that results must be interpreted in the context of other information about the individual, i.e., personal history, reason for assessment, the intended uses of the report about the results, who made the referral for assessment (e.g., self, family, physician, lawyer), etc. In practical use, "blind interpretations" where nothing is known of the client except perhaps gender are not useful, and may be dangerous and unethical.

22. CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE A research suggested that the MMPI-2 inventory might not be useful enough to enhance accuracy of clinical diagnosis, interpretations and predictions of psychopathology for Kenyans. In spite of small sample size, the results of this study indicated the MMPI-2 could be used in Kenyan to enhance accuracy of clinical diagnosis, interpretations and predictions of psychopathology, if proper adjustments were made on some of the clinical and validity scales especially Scales F, 2, 6, 8, 7 and 0 for men and Scales F, 8 and 0 for women. However, future researchers may require a larger sample from Kenya for a more conclusive validation of the MMPI-2 with Kenyans.

23. CONCLUSION MMPI-2 is an important psychological test instrument that for the past 60 years has been used to measure the psychopathology and personality issues in both clinical and psychiatric settings. Its wide body of literature supports the instrument as the most recognized and reliable personality test instrument. MMPI-2 scales are effective in identifying mental problems and personality disorders of test respondents from the various diverse cultural and racial backgrounds.