MMPI-2 Flashcards

Question

Scale 8

Answer 1

(Sc) – Schizophrenia: schizoid lifestyle, confusion, fearfulness, aloofness, fantasies, psychosis, thought/mood disturbances, social alienation and estrangement, dissatisfaction, decreased concentration [at risk for schizophrenia]

Answer 2

(Ma) – Hypomania: increased energy, elevated mood, increased speech and motor activity, irritability, impulsivity, decreased frustration tolerance, conceptual disorganization [at risk for bipolar disorder]

Answer 3

(Si) – Social Isolation: shyness/timidness, decreased self-confidence, submissiveness, reliability, decreased interest, over-controlled, maladjusted [at risk for social phobia}

Answer 4

defensiveness

Answer 5

Cry for Help (be wary of malingering or secondary gain)

Answer 6

Some scales are K-corrected because test-takers may be invested in looking healthier than they really are. A defensive person is less likely to recognize the purpose of these subtle items so they will not try to avoid detection. Although an elevation of the K scale could indicate defensiveness, it could also indicate psychological awareness and well-being, so K-corrected scales should be interpreted with caution

Answer 7

The (Mf) - Masculinity/Femininity scale was initially developed to identify homosexuals and is not a valid measure of psychopathology. Rather, it measures traditional interests and is not at all related to symptoms in clinical or normal groups

Answer 8

The Harris-Lingoes subscales provide extra information regarding items endorsed Reliability is decreased, however, because of fewer items and considerable item overlap between subscales also affects validity

Answer 9

(D) (Hy) (Pd) (Pa) (Sc) (Ma) (Si)

Answer 10

Relative elevations of scales that produce more information through a configural interpretation than single scale analysis

Answer 11

They should not be interpreted unless the parent scale is significantly elevated

Answer 12

13/31, where 2 is considerably lower than the elevated 13/31

Answer 13

The RC scales were developed in order to sort out degree of emotional distress vs. the degree of core construct of scale (ie: depression, aberrant thinking) They were designed to preserve descriptive properties of Clinical Scales while enhancing distinctiveness Designed to get very clean symptoms for the clinical scales It was anticipated that the removal of "Demoralization" (RCd) as a general factor from all of the clinical scales would result in a set of restructured scales that would be less intercorrelated and have greater discriminant validity than the original clinical scales

Answer 14

dem/ Demoralization: Indication of overall emotional wellbeing High scores reflect discomfort, turmoil, low self esteem, pessimism, expectation to fail in future, overwhelmed, inability to cope, depression, anxiety, somatic complaints, might raise alienation scales

Answer 15

som/ Somatic Complaints: Similar to scale 1 (Hypochonriasis) and HEA (Health Concerns) Content Scale High scores reflect large number of physical complaints and little psychological insight, chronic pain, preoccupation with bodily functions, development of physical symptoms as a result of interpersonal or psychological difficulties Could see this in back pain clinics, hospitals, and/or medical wards

Answer 16

lpe/ Low Positive Emotions: High scores reflect lack of positive emotional engagement in life, unhappiness and risk for clinical depression, lack of energy to deal with life demands, difficulty taking charge and making decisions, hopelessness/helplessness, introverted, passive and often withdrawn, isolation, pessimism, low expectations for success, and less likely to engage in competitive behaviors Hopelessness is a red flag for suicide Can see this on BDI

Answer 17

cyn/ Cynicism: Corresponds to Scale 3 (Hysteria): Somatic complaints and lack of trust with others This scale addresses the trust component High scores reflect seeing others as untrustworthy, uncaring, concerned only about themselves and exploitative. These people might be difficult to work with in therapy Low scores can reflect likeliness to be naïve, gullible, and overly trusting of others

Answer 18

asb/ Antisocial Behavior: Purer measure of antisocial characteristics than clinical scale 4 and more behavioral expression of psychopathic deviate High scores reflect difficulties conforming to societal norms and expectations, histories of difficulties with the law, increased risk for substance use, aggressive behavior and conflicted interpersonal relationships, argumentativeness, anger, antagonism, difficulties in school and work

Answer 19

per/ Ideas of Persecution: Purer measure of persecutory thinking than clinical Scale 6 High scores reflect feeling targeted, controlled, victimization by outside forces, suspiciousness, and difficulty forming trusting relationships T > 75 associated with delusions, hallucinations, other psychotic symptoms

Answer 20

dne/ Dysfunctional Negative Emotions: High scores reflect experience of negative emotions (anxiety, depression, irritability), intrusive unwanted ideation, insecure and sensitivity to perceived criticism, rumination and brooding about self perceived failures, and passive and submissive interpersonal relationships

Answer 21

abx/ Aberrant Experiences: More focused measure of sensory, perceptual, cognitive, and motor disturbances than Clinical Scale 8 High scores T > 65 likeliness of hallucinations, delusions, or bizarre sensory experiences, weird odors, impaired reality testing T > 75 likely diagnosis of schizophrenia, delusional disorder, or schizoaffective disorder

Answer 22

hmp/ Hypomanic Activation: High scores reflect racing thoughts, high energy level, heightened mood, irritability, aggressiveness, substance us poor impulse control, sensation seeking, risky behaviors T > 75 may suggest manic episode of Bipolar Disorder T between 60 – 70 may indicate extraverted person with adaptive high energy level

Answer 23

Designed to preserve descriptive properties of Clinical Scales while enhancing distinctiveness Reliability: internal consistency is higher than the Clinical Scales, test re test is stable after one week Validity: Convergent Validity is similar to and greater than Clinical Scales Cleaner symptoms of Clinical Scales

Answer 24

Originally developed by Wiggins (1969) using the entire MMPI item pool Elimination of most item overlap between scales MMPI-2 Content Scales developed by Butcher, Graham, Williams, and Ben-Porath (1990)

Answer 25

Scores are seen as direct communication from test taker; high scores reflect what they want examiner to know about them

Answer 26

Anxiety - tension, somatic problems, sleep difficulties, worries, poor concentration, fear of losing their minds, find life a strain, difficulties making decisions

Answer 27

Bizarre Mentation - psychotic thought processes, hallucinations; may recognize that thoughts are strange and peculiar, paranoid ideation, may feel that they have a special mission or special powers

Answer 28

Low Self Esteem - low opinion of self, believe that they are not liked by others, hold many negative attitudes about self, lack self-confidence

Answer 29

Social Discomfort - very uneasy around others, preferring to be by themselves, likely to sit alone, see themselves as shy, dislike parties and other group events

Answer 30

Family Problems - considerable family discord, families described as lacking in love, quarrelsome, and unpleasant, may report hating members of their families, may portray childhood as abusive, and marriages seen as unhappy and lacking in affection

Answer 31

Work Interference - behaviors and attitudes likely to contribute to poor work performance, low self-confidence, concentration difficulties, obsessiveness, tension and pressure; possible lack of family support for career choice, personal questioning of career choice, and negative attitudes towards co-workers

Answer 32

Negative Treatment Indicators - negative attitudes towards mental health treatment, believe that no one can understand or help them; not comfortable discussing certain issues with anyone, may not want to or feel it possible to change anything in their lives, prefer giving up; scale is saturated with general maladjustment

Answer 33

Cynicism - expect hidden, negative motives behind the acts of others, distrust others, and likely hold negative attitudes about those close to them

Answer 34

Antisocial Practices - report problem behaviors during their school years and other antisocial practices, report sometimes enjoying the antics of criminals and believe that it is all right to get around the law, as long as it is not broken

Answer 35

When at least 10 T-score points between component scales, can see what to emphasize/de-emphasize based upon higher/lower scores

Answer 36

An ad hoc collection of scales and sets of scales developed over the course of the test’s history More than 450 developed over the course of the test’s history, updated periodically. Included based on evidence that they provide information not available from the clinical scales and they augment clinical scale interpretation by focusing on more specific areas of personality function and dysfunction The MMPI item pool was used to develop numerous scales by variously recombining the 567 items using item analytic, factor-analytic, and intuitive procedures. Scales varied considerably in terms of what they were supposed to measure, the manner in which they were constructed, their reliabilities, the extent to which they were cross-validated, the availability of normative data, and the amount of additional validity data that were generated. The extent to which existing research data supported a scale’s reliability and validity determined which scales were retained (Graham)

Answer 37

Anxiety Used to supplement the Anxiety Content Scale and the PT scale, measuring poor overall adjustment, feelings of anxiety and being uncomfortable, negative emotion, dysphoria and decreased energy High Scores: (normal population): Rather miserable and unhappy High Scores: (clinical population): neurotic, maladjusted, submissive, and overcontrolled. Likely to have histories of previous mental health treatment. Usually indicative of high levels of discomfort and these individuals are therefore highly motivated for counseling or psychotherapy

Answer 38

Repression High Scores: introverted, internalizing, adopted careful and cautious lifestyles (this is how they will react in therapy as well)

Answer 39

Ego Strength Empirically developed to predict response to psychotherapy: High Scores: indicative of confidence, psychological resources, generally tending to show more positive change during treatment, fairly well adjusted emotionally. Normal populations: not likely to have serious emotional problems, Psychiatric populations: problems are likely to be situational rather than chronic, prognosis is good Low Scores: are indicative of maladjustment

Answer 40

MacAndrew Alcoholism Scale-Revised 49 items that differentiate male alcoholic from non-alcoholic psychiatric patients (excluded overt alcohol items). Involves measure of risk-taking behaviors, sensation-seeking, extroversion, exhibitionistic, increased risk for substance abuse. Raw scores of > 28 positive, raw score of 24-27, possible alcohol problems. THIS SCALE IS NOT VALID FOR WOMEN

Answer 41

Personality Psychopathology-5: (overall scale that includes: Aggressiveness, Psychoticism, Disconstraint, Negative Emotionality/Neuroticism, Introversion/Low Positive Emotionality) Developed to provide an overview of major personality trait features. Linked to but conceptually distinct from other personality trait models (i.e., Cattell’s Five-Factor Model). Blends the clinical and normal perspective of personality assessment. Typically used for: Personality Disorder Research; Fitness for Job; Pre-Employment; non-clinical populations to look at personality organization

Answer 42

Overcontrolled Hostility Developed by identifying items that were answered differently by extremely assaultive prisoners, moderately assaultive prisoners, nonviolent prisoners, and men never convicted of crimes. High score are indicative of defensiveness and higher scores tend not to respond to provocation appropriately most of the time, but occasional exaggerated responses may occur Low-scores are indicative of self-punitiveness, self-blaming, expression of angry feelings. If this is high, it is important to go back and get a detailed history because it might include domestic violence, ideations about hurting others, gang involvement, restraining orders. Also important to find out what is stopping them from acting out, because when that’s not there, they won’t be able to control the hostility

Answer 43

Addiction Admission Rationally identified items with obvious item content. Shows promise in distinguishing between substance abusers and general psychiatric patients. T > 60 signifies the participant is acknowledging substance abuse, has a history of acting out, is impulsive and risk-taking, critical, argumentative, angry, and aggressive. Must be careful here with interpretations as anyone NOT currently using, but in a 12-step program could potentially meet criteria here. For this scale, the consumer must have insight enough to endorse, it is also easier to fake if it’s an obvious item as in the case of the AAS. Look at the Mac-R and compare other alcohol scales as well to get the best measure of potential for use.

Answer 44

Addiction Potential Items that men and women in inpatient chemical dependency unit answered differently from men and women psychiatric inpatients and normative group. Scale is made up of heterogeneous item content assessing: antisocial behavior; extroversion; excitement seeking, risk-taking, recklessness, satisfaction/dissatisfaction with self, powerlessness/lack of self-efficacy. This is not measuring if they’re actually doing the behavior, more about what motivates them

Answer 45

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder-Keane Measures intense emotional distress and anxiety and sleep disturbance (Not specific for noncombat PTSD, more research needs to be done for instance, regarding women subjected to domestic abuse, workers injured in work-related accidents, etc., as the scale was developed from protocols of combat veterans). Cutoff scores vary across settings, is sensitive but not specific. When looking at combat veterans seeking services in VA, Raw score of 28, T score > 83

Answer 46

Marital Distress 14 items identified by correlating MMPI-2 items with scores on Dyadic Adjustment Scale in couples in counseling and normative group. Measures dissatisfaction with marriage or romantic relationship. Only to be used with married heterosexual couples. Limited validity data available for this scale, thus it should be interpreted cautiously. High scores indicate distress in the marriage… therefore not much help when assessing persons who are admitting to marital problems and seeking help for them High scores may also alert clinicians about underlying symptoms such as anxiety and depression

Answer 47

They are items whose content has been judged to be indicative of serious psychopathology. They are related to 6 crisis areas: acute anxiety state; depressed suicidal ideation; threatened assault; situational stress due to alcoholism; mental confusion; and persecutory ideas). Considerable overlap with scales F and 8. Most critical items are keyed in the "true" direction; thus, caution must be taken when the person is displaying an acquiescence response set or exaggerating symptoms

Answer 48

They are useful as a tool for leading the clinician to inquire further into areas assessed by the items. They should not be over-interpreted! They should never be used as a quick assessment of level of maladjustment. Critical items perform poorly in separating normal and psychiatric samples. Critical-item lists are not as reliable as scales because of the vulnerability to error of single-item responses

Answer 49

Only when the parent content scales is greater than 60 Make sure you take into account test-taking attitude