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A study of the MMPI clinical and research scales for post‐traumatic stress disorder diagnostic utility
Author(s) -
Silver Steven M.,
SalamoneGenovese Linda
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
journal of traumatic stress
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.259
H-Index - 134
eISSN - 1573-6598
pISSN - 0894-9867
DOI - 10.1002/jts.2490040407
Subject(s) - minnesota multiphasic personality inventory , psychology , traumatic stress , clinical psychology , psychiatry , personality , social psychology
Controversy exists as to the utility of the MMPI in diagnosing post‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Studies of an empirically developed PTSD Subscale for the MMPI have had conflicting results. In this study 84 MMPI clinical and research scales, including the PTSD Subscale, of 234 Vietnam War veterans (+PTSD = 117, ‐PTSD = 117) were compared to determine the clinical usefulness of the scales for differential diagnosis of PTSD. The veterans were all inpatients applying for admission to a PTSD treatment program. The MMPI clinical profile for PTSD was corroborated, though it had little statistically significant difference than the average profile of the ‐PTSD group. The PTSD Subscale was slightly better than chance in classifying veterans. A number of research scales were found to be as or more accurate than the PTSD Subscale in terms of true hit rates.