MMPI Clinical Scales Flashcards
Scale 1: Hypochondriasis (Hy)
Abnormal or psychoneurotic concern w/ physical health.
○ Obvious, unsubtle content; lots of false negatives and low scores common.
Optimism/Pessimism Scale
○ defeatist, cynical outlook on life.
○ negative predictor of treatment response
Raw score of 6 is considered high.
Rarely find Pure Hypochondriac in-patients
Higher the score, the more intense the preoccupation about physical functioning and the individual is more dependent.
High 1
70+
○ Unambitious
○ Unsmiling
○ Insecure
○ Low key pessimism
○ Worried
○ Overconcerned about health
○ Don’t do these things, not they can’t do these things
○ Egocentric
○ Dependent
○ Immature
○ Stubborn
○ Narcissistic
○ Difficult with adult responsibility
Males:
■ Well-adjusted
■ Unambitious
■ Apathetic
Moderately High 1 (65-70)
Wide range of interests, but tendency toward introversion
Insomnia, general unhappiness
Complaints of tension
College female (elevation in 1-2-7 (Hs-D-Pt) ● Typical of home-sickness
Moderate elevation Scale 1
(55-65)
may be reacting to real physical illness (ex: TB ward T of 65)
More likely to have scale 2 elevation in these cases
Still tendency to be pessimistic, somatic under stress.
Low 1
Can either mean free of bodily complaints or psychologically unconcerned or unaware of bodily functioning.
May also be denial of physical problems as counterphobic defense.
Resilient, alert, energetic
Females: Education majors
Persuasive personalities
Hy & Other Scales
Hypochondriacs that fake illness are not depressed.
■ High 2→ may indicate real illness
■ If scale 2 is low, it may mean expressing depression in somatic terms
1 & 3:
- Share many items so spike in 1 usually correlated with elevation in 3.
- Both have physical symptoms, but scale 3 people are different than scale 1 because they are more cheerful, blase, and seek reassurance.
- They don’t usually express neg feeling, or deny them, which causes them to be expressed somatically. Tend to be immature, demanding.
Always interpret 1-2-3 together
■ Neurotic Triad
■ Elevation of all three (or 1 & 2) can be someone covering depression with physical symptoms
If Scale 1 highest on Profile
■ Unlikely person is psychotic
● Psychotic person won’t spend this much time worrying about their physical sensations.
High 1 and low 4 for men, or High 1 and low 5 for women: dependent self-centeredness w/ passivity and difficulty expressing anger.
Scale 2: Depression
Least stable of MMPI scores: mood scale sensitive to transient emotional states (State, not Trait)
Easy to fake, because depressives talk about being depressed
Includes behavioral factors
High 2
90+
○ Psychotic depression (guilt-ridden, withdrawn)
■ Depressed about delusional thinking
■ Difficult to treat
80+
○ Unable to concentrate, think clearly, get things done and make decisions. Worried about rash actions
○ Nothing can get done
70+
○ Gets in the way of what you are trying to do; maybe problems with mem, cog, general efficiency.
Moderate and Low 2
Moderate 55-65:
Inhibited, guilty, self-blaming
○ lack self-confidence, passive, responsible
Scale 3: Hysteria
One of the best scales on the MMPI
○ Character scale
○ Curvilinear
○ Buffers against psychosis (along w/ scale 1)
○ Real physical complaints elevate JUST the physical complaints, but not the hysterical personality side of things. If you are 65+ you are endorsing BOTH areas.
2 major categories of items:
○ 1) somatic complaints 2) extraverted social style.
Somaticization (conversion disorder) – symptoms mimic real organic disease, process, or syndrome
- hysterical paralysis, numbness
- hysterical pregnancy – not as rare as one might think
- hysterical aphonia – cannot hear (auditory correlate of aphasia)
- hysterical amnesia
Physical symptoms
Denial/Repression as coping
Lack of psychological insight
Discriminate from Hypochondriasis:
○ Hysteria has more concrete symptom
○ Back pain: Hypochondriacal if it’s just pain, if you can’t move around and such it is Hysterical.
Discriminate from Psychosomatic
○ Real physical problems that stem from psychological factors.
● Converting conflicts into mimics of physical symptoms
○ Often can point to a reason for it (“paralyzed” soldiers)
60 could just be somatic but 70+ is hysteria
○ will also exaggerate psychopathology so other scales could be elevated as well.
High 3
70+
■ Conversion hysterics and hysterical (borderline) personality
Hysterics think they are wonderful, unique, and important.
Self-centered, complain, immature, but view themselves as mature and easy to get along with
Superficially cooperative but highly resistant to psych interpretations and passive aggressive.
Use repression, denial, conforming, immaturely self centered, and anxiety-related somatic concerns.
Physical symptoms allow them to evade responsibility and escape stressful or unpleasant situations.
Tend to function adequately or even well under normal circumstances, but when faced with difficult situations, tenuous nature of personality organization taxed beyond capacity to cope and symptoms emerge reflecting overburdened self.
Emotional lability, emotional intensity, modulation difficulties.
Hung up on how others view them
○ correlated with high academic achievement, well-educated, intelligent claims to superior adjustment elevate score, female college students with low dropout rate who are likely to go to grad school, conservative beliefs, typical of clergy.
At 60
Can be acquired by endorsing one or the other of the two scales
Moderately High (55-65) ■ optimistic and positive, achievement oriented, socially involved, outgoing, deny conflict, try to please others, vulnerable to physical symptoms from stress.
Low 3
Low (
Scale 4: Psychopath / Deviate
■ Individuals with psychopathic traits seen as lacking in ability to form warm and stable bonds to others, appreciate social customs and abide by societal rules, and to profit from experiences that had neg consequences→ in essence, psychologically immature. General social maladjustment leads to dissatisfaction w the self and others and often results in strong feelings of social and self-alienation.
Character scale
● Alcoholics score high on this score
Scale 4 is a heterogenous scale, and it is a mistake to assume that all persons high on 4 are necessarily antisocial or even act out aggressively.
Elevations could be obtained by people going through a divorce or other situational stress, which has left them “numbing themselves” emotionally or experiencing anger/bitterness that is externalized, difficulties with trust and emotional control.
All high 4s do have commonalities: independent, dislike rules imposed on them, cautious about letting ppl get close, problems w/ trust, vulnerability, intimacy.
○ not all overtly fighting against authority.
Goes down with age: psychopaths don’t get reinforced as much for behavior and have experiences that can change them.
They don’t last long as friends – irresponsibility becomes too difficult to tolerate, unreliable, poor planners, easily frustrated
In a college population, expect 65-70
- if they have the energy to act out, they will (high 9)
- psychologists usually score in the 60s to 70s, although a little hostile
Slight elevation: intellectuals
high 60s – freedom from anxiety
Much more uncomfortable to be neurotic than to be a psychopath
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Moderate 4
Moderate inflation is a good sign:
freedom from anxiety
lack of inhibition
ability to be spontaneous
creative
Above 65 likely some sexual “deviancy”–sexuality will be experimental, creative, not traditional.
High 4
High (>70)
● Anger (family, authority, or society).
○ could be situational response
○ minority cultural group?
● Rebelliousness
● Irritation towards rules and regulations
● Low frustration tolerance
● Unpredictability
● Social alienation
● Impulsiveness
● Poor planners
● Antisocial attitudes
● Acting out
● Lack of empathy, see people as means to an end
● Reduced sense of responsibility/morals
● Liked initially, become a pain over time
○ Big Man on Campus initially, fun for a while
● Shallow social relations
○ unreliable, self-oriented, manipulative, resentful
Low 4
Passivity
Unable to take risks
Passive sexually
Conventional
Scale 5: Masculinity/Femininity (M/F)
Tendency toward masculinity or femininity of interest pattern in direction of the opposite sex.
“Abnormal” to score feminine for male, masculine for female
Small sample size of only people who fully wanted to change sex and had no “other” psychopathology
● Pathology group was 10 pure male sexual inverts
● Normal group was made up of army inductees for males and 50 airline stewardesses
○ Obviously some issues with this.
Scored differently than every other scale.
● Male= higher raw score→ higher T score
● Female= higher raw score→ lower T score
● High T Male= feminine; High T Female=Masculine
Elevation is never in itself sufficient to suggest homosexuality, but homosexuals who wish to conceal their orientation can do so w/ relative ease on this scale.
High 5: Men
High (>65)
○ introspective, inner-directed, education-oriented, wide range of interests, incl aesthetic and contemplative.
○ idealistic, imaginative, socially perceptive,
○ interpersonally sensitive.
○ strongly correlated w/ education, intelligence, and cultural breadth.
○ tend to be relatively passive men.
Moderately Low 5: Men
Moderately low (35-45)
Masculine interests and behaviors
Adventurous
Choose action over contemplation
Outdoor and mechanical activities, often appear rugged and coarse; often low occupational
Very Low 5: Men
Very low (T
High 5: Women
High (T>65)
unusual for women to have high Scale 5 scores
assertive, competitive, tough-minded, not interested in appearing or behaving as other women do
independent, self-confident, spontaneous, dominant, and even aggressive in thought and action
may be expressed in pragmatic and/or survival behaviors, traditionally masculine sports or interests, or dominant lesbian sexual orientation; need to be in control.
Moderately Low 5: Women
(35-45)
Sensitive, concerned about relationships, nurturing and supportive, maybe submissive or passive.
Concerned w appearing neat, attractive, and feminine, often interests directed toward academic, home, or aesthetic areas.
Attracted to sensitive men who enjoy communicating.
Very Low 5: Women
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Scale 6: Paranoia
Along with 3, considered one of the best scales on the MMPI-2.
3 components of dimension of paranoia:
● clear persecutory ideas as well as ideas of reference
● high sensitivity w/ feelings of being treated unfairly and strong tendency to take things personally and misinterpret motives of others as directed against them
● self-righteousness in which person feels indignant about “bad” or “wrong” behavior evidenced by others and feels it needs to be punished and exposed.
Best measure of hostility on the MMPI
● Viciousness
Gives very few false positives
● Does give some false negatives
History
● Relatively few true paranoids, so it was difficult to validate
○ Mostly this was 6-8 (schizophrenic paranoids)
○ Because of this, pretty delusional
Possibly a Character Scale
■ Paranoia begins with realistic persecution
● Higher in minority groups
● Black and White Thinking:
○ Good Guys, Bad Guys, and Too Stupid To Get What’s Going On
○ Friends (2-3 people), Enemies (much of the world plotting against them), Innocents (the rest)
High scores on 6 are more common for females, especially in teens and 20’s bc they feel they are always being evaluated.
High 6
Paranoid and Bright
60-70: Soft Paranoid- Sensitivity
Oversensitive
Wears feelings on sleeve
Self-critical to a fault
Feels like everyone is rejecting and critical
Lacks viciousness or hostility
More vulnerable and easily hurt, guarded and distrustful.
High 70s-80s: Righteous Paranoid/Judicial
Persecutory feelings
Claim excessive moral virtue
Deny suspicion and overly rationalize everything (Mr. Spock Syndrome), intellectualize everything, deny emotionality.
80s-90s: Persecutory Delusions
■ see people as out to get them and response is to get them first–can be dangerous.
Low 6
Low 40s
○ Paranoid in a stupid way
○ Think people don’t like them, they’re right
○ Poor social skills, turn people off, often close-talkers
○ Less cohesive, sophisticated delusional system
Very low (
Scale 7: Psychasthenia
Sometimes grouped with the neurotic triad
- No false positives–if you’re OC, you’re OC, but 7 can miss it as well
- 7 will miss specific phobics as well
- Buffer against psychosis, anxious about reality
Least valid scale on MMPI-2 ● face valid but easily faked ● can miss people who are highly severe ● overlaps with scale 8 too ● will become up some people who are anxious, particularly if anxiety is broad.
Doesn’t necessarily pick up PTSD or Specific Phobia the way that it is supposed to
Doesn’t contain items reflecting specific phobias and compulsions bc individual differences btwn participants prob failed to permit an item to be endorsed w sufficient frequency to survive an item analysis.
No single source of variance: elevations can be due to number of aspects of maladjustment, ranging from poor concentration and agitation to psychotic tendencies.
Some say it is a good scale for general maladjustment and subjective distress.
High 7
(>65): high emotionality
tense, anxious, introspective, with feelings of insecurity, inadequacy, inferiority, and guilt:
fearful, nervous, low-confidence, self-doubts, self-blame, self-critical, heightened sensitivity, rigid efforts to control impulses, perfectionistic, moodiness, general maladjustment.
High 7s (depending on other scale elevations) are easy to deal w/ therapeutically bc they follow advice and are disciplined about work of therapy.
Low 7
(35-45)
relaxed, comfortable, confident, capable without emotional distress.
Scale 8: Schizophrenia
Considered one of the weaker diagnostic scales.
Longest scale on MMPI (78 items) bc it attempts to give you all types of schizophrenia
Standardization group was mostly paranoid schizophrenics.
Disorganized thinking, impaired reality testing, and communication problems
● tendency to withdraw into fantasy
● unhappy, moody, inferior, alienated
● immature, impulsive, reclusive
● very high might be experiencing hallucinations, confusion, panic, anxiety, or delusions.
Prominent scale 8 elevations especially in psychiatric settings do predict a schizophrenic diagnosis, esp w/ concurrent elevation on Scale 6 (Pa).
High 8
Do not interpret scale 8 unless it is 10 T-scores higher than scale 7 (7-8 RULE): b/c there is high item overlap between 7 and 8!
Scale that is most commonly misinterpreted by people who don’t know the MMPI. Can get false positives, particularly from adolescents who are socially introverted, artsy, unrealistic, idealistic types.
If F high, take 8 more seriously–more likely psychotic
Extremely high (>90) ● usually NOT schizophrenia-endorsing too many symptoms ○ faking bad, or cry for help. ● more often acute situational stress or severe identity crisis than schizophrenia. Indecision and mental confusion. Feel like they are going crazy in an acute psychotic break and endorsing everything bc they are scared to death.
Very high (70-90) ● schizophrenic, probably chronically. ● Alienated, difficulty thinking clearly, unconventional or socially deviant, disturbing concerns about fitting into the world, feel so broken and unlovable that they aren’t comfortable relating to others, diff communicating, intrusive/disorganized thoughts. ● If K correction is high, might be functioning well but still unable to form close relationships and they are “off”
High (65-75)
● cutoff, distant, uncomfortable in personal relations.
● unconventional, focus on abstract or theoretical issues
● dissatisfaction w/ self
Low 8
(50s and below)
Practical, conventional, conforming, conservative, little introspection, dependable, polite, well-adjusted.
At very low end, unimaginative, rigid, and overcontrolled.
Scale 9: Mania
Energy thermometer
As Scale 9 is elevated, individuals appear increasingly committed to beliefs and have a sense of purpose and grandiosity. Tend to be overcommitted and impulsive with low follow through.
4 E’s: Euphoria, Egotism, Expansiveness, Energy.
● also irritability: the higher your score, the more euphoric and overactive you are.
Excitement, heightened activity levels, expansiveness, over-ambitiousness or high aspirations.
● above 75 efforts become more fragmented and scattered rather than organized.
2 and 9 will seesaw: if 9 is up, 2 is down and vice versa. Elevated 2+9 can be organicity=brain damage.
4 and 9 tend to be correlated.
High 9
60-70
● Still pretty normal, especially with college kids
● energetic, outgoing, active, high aspirations, affectionate, kind, physical stamina
● good employees
70-80
● Distracted by energy; energy impinges on other people
● Higher into 70s→ hyperactive
○ start projects and do not finish them: poor follow through; bursts of activity.
80+
● Expansive, more bizarre, ineffective, grandiose.
● Really having an effect on people around you.
90s
● Peak of euphoria; delirious, out of control, bouncing of the walls, out of touch.
● Bad risk for psychotherapy, because therapy requires you to be somewhat uncomfortable about something.
Moderate 9
50-60
Normal; balanced, mature, adequate energy to be productive
Low 9
Low (
Scale 0: Social Introversion
Does not measure pathology
Added later and may not necessarily belong on MMPI
