Clinical Characteristics of Psychiatric Patients with Military Issues Using MMPI-2-RF / 정신신체의학

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to examine psychological characteristics of patients who visited psychiatric clinic for medical certificate for military service using MMPI-2-RF. We compared target group with general psychiatric patients with same age range. METHODS: A total of 165 male patients for medical certificate and 154 general psychiatric patients were collected from the Department of Psychiatry of three university hospitals. There were significant differences of age and educational level between two groups. We used independent t-test, ANCOVA, χ² test to examine differences between two groups. RESULTS: Medical certificate group scored higher on the validity scales, the Higher-Order(H-O) scales, the Restructured Clinical(RC) Scales, the Specific Problems(SP) Scales, and the Personality Psychopathology Five (PSY-5) Scales. Especially, EID, RC7, HLP, SFD, SAV, SHY, DSF, and INTR-r showed significant differences between two groups on all three statistical tests. CONCLUSIONS: The present study showed that psychiatric patients who received psychological evaluation for military service have significantly higher emotional distress, helplessness, lower self-confidence, and lower quality of interpersonal relationships. And the difference of validity scales between two groups could be related with psychological burden of compulsory military service in the study sample which causes elevation on scales of infrequent responses. MMPI-2-RF would be helpful instrument to assess these emotional and psychological characteristics.

Comparison of Memory Function and MMPI-2 Profile between Post-traumatic Stress Disorder and Adjustment Disorder after a Traffic Accident

OBJECTIVE: Differential diagnosis between post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and adjustment disorder (AD) is rather difficult, but very important to the assignment of appropriate treatment and prognosis. This study investigated methods to differentiate PTSD and AD. METHODS: Twenty-five people with PTSD and 24 people with AD were recruited. Memory tests, the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory 2 (MMPI-2), and Beck's Depression Inventory were administered. RESULTS: There were significant decreases in immediate verbal recall and delayed verbal recognition in the participants with PTSD. The reduced memory functions of participants with PTSD were significantly influenced by depressive symptoms. Hypochondriasis, hysteria, psychopathic deviate, paranoia, schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress disorder scale of MMPI-2 classified significantly PTSD and AD group. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that verbal memory assessments and the MMPI-2 could be useful for discriminating between PTSD and AD.

Psychologic Characteristics in Caregivers of Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder / 대한소아신경학회지

PURPOSE: ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) is a neurodevelopmental disorder with three characteristics, such as impulsivity, inattention, and hyperactivity symptoms. This is a common disease that the prevalence reaches 4-7% of all children. There are a variety of hypothesis in the pathogenic mechanisms and etiology. Parental psychopathology influences directly and indirectly on the occurrence of ADHD in children. The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical and psychological characteristics of caregiver of child with ADHD using the MMPI (Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory)-2. METHODS: The subjects consisted of 35 caregivers of patients with ADHD and 34 caregivers of children without neuropsychiatric disorders who visited to the pediatric neurology clinic of Kangnam sacred heart hospital from January 2009 to June 2011. We diagnosed ADHD according to DSM(Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder)-IV criteria. We compared the psychologic characteristics between ADHD group and control group using T score of MMPI-2. RESULTS: MMPI T scores of caregivers of children with ADHD were significantly higher on the depression(D), psychasthenia(Pt), schizophrenia(Sc), social introversion (Si) scales than control group and most of scales were significantly higher in restructured clinical (RC) scale and personality psychopathology five (PSY-5) scales. CONCLUSION: The results suggested that psychopathology of caregivers might induce ADHD in the children. On the contrary, ADHD symptom of children might be associated with occurrence of psychopathology in the cargiver. In order to proper treatment of ADHD patient, we need to psychologic evaluation in the caregivers of patients with ADHD.

Comparison of Emotional and Psychological Characteristics between Suicide Attempters and Non-Attempters in Depressed Patients : Using MMPI-2 Profiles / 정신신체의학

OBJECTIVES: To examine emotional and psychological characteristics associated with suicide attempts in depressed patients. METHODS: A sample of 37 inpatients diagnosed with major depressive disorder or depressive disorder NOS was divided into two groups : lifetime suicide attempters(N=15 ; 40.54%), non-attempters(N=22 ; 59.46%). Beck Depression Scale(BDI), Beck Anxiety Scale(BAI), Hamilton Depression Rating Scale(HDRS), Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale(HARS), and MMPI-2 were used to evaluate symptoms severity and psychological characteristics. RESULTS: Suicide attempters scored higher on the BDI though there were no group differences on the HDRS and on the both anxiety scales. Also they showed higher scores on the F, Fb, Pa, RC1, DEP, HEA, PK, AAS among MMPI-2 subscales. Our findings suggest that suicide attempters among depressed patients undergo more severe subjective distress and difficulties in adjustment than non-attempters. Also they were more hostile to others and showed lower trust. Lastly, they showed more somatic complaints and substance related problems. CONCLUSION: The present study showed that suicide attempters among depressed patients have distinct emotional and psychological characteristics. MMPI-2 would be helpful to assess suicidal risk of depressed patients.

Occupational Stress and MMPI-2 Profile of Workers in Some Plants Undergoing Labor Dispute / 대한산업의학회지

OBJECTIVES: To identify changes in relationships with superiors or colleagues at work and family members and social networks at home, based on occupational stress and psychological characteristics in during the process of restructuring some plants undergoing a long-term labor dispute. METHODS: This study invested 213 workers involved in a long-term labor dispute using the KOSS (Korean Occupational Stress Scale) and the MMPI-2 (Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory) and questionnaires. The KOSS and MMPI-2 scores in accordance with aggressiveness of trade union activity and changes in human relationships were compared. In addition, the odds ratio of whether there were differences in health behavior (perception of health status, smoking, alcohol abuse, medical treatment) and the absenteeism rate was calculated by logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: For members of the aggressiveness of trade union activity group, the rate at which the relationship between superiors or colleagues deteriorated was high, as was the total KOSS score, occupational system and lack of reward score of KOSS subclass. The depression subclass score of MMPI-2 was generally high, while the score of hypochondriasis, hysteria, psychopathic deviate, hypomania was high, and social introversion was low in the active group. In cases in which there were high score of psychopathic deviate, hypomania and paranoia, there were also signs of negative health behavior. CONCLUSIONS: Occupational stress caused by a long-term labor dispute, accompanied with depression can result in an aggressive, hostile and vulnerable personalities and have a negative impact on health behavior.

Perfiles de personalidad de estudiantes de psicología de universidad privada comparados em similitud y congruencia / Personality profiles of psychology students from a privateuniversity compared by similarity and congruence

En continuidad con los estudios del área de Perfiles de la Cátedra de Psicología Experimental I y II, se llevó a cabo un análisis comparativo de Perfiles de Personalidad en estudiantes de psicología. La muestra fue intencional y autoseleccionada, quedó conformada por 153 estudiantes de Psicología. Se ha utilizado un diseño Descriptivo y Comparado. El instrumento utilizado fue el Inventario Multifásico de la Personalidad Minnesota-2 (MMPI-2). Los resultados reportan que existe un patrón de personalidad con similitudes muy acentuadas en los estudiantes de la carrera de psicología, independiente del curso al que pertenecen, y en comparación a los perfiles de años anteriores (n = 152, muestra 2001: n=168, muestra 2007: y n= 101 muestra 2008).

In continuity with the studies of the area of Profiles of the Professorship of Experimental Psychology I and II, a comparative analysis of Profiles of Personality in students of psychology was carried out. The sample was intentional and autoseleccionada, remained conformed by 153 (166) students of Psychology. A Descriptive design has been utilized and Compared. The instrument utilized was the Polyphase Inventory of the Personality Minnesota-2 (MMPI-2). The results report that a boss of personality with similarities exists very accentuated in the students of the career of psychology, independent of the course to which they belong, and in comparison to the profiles of previous years (n = 152 sample 2001; n = 168, sample 2007 and n = 101 sample 2008).

Trastornos y desajustes psicológicos asociados a la violencia delictiva, un estudio con mujeres costarricenses privadas de libertad / Psychological disorders and disturbances related to criminal violence: a study with Costa Rican female offenders

El propósito de la presente investigación fue explorar la asociación entre trastornos y desajustes psicológicos con la violencia desplegada por mujeres privadas de libertad durante la comisión de los hechos delictivos por los cuales se encuentran sentenciadas. Con este estudio se espera realizar un aporte empírico y conceptual al campo de la evaluación psicológica forense en el país, dado que a la fecha no se ha realizado suficiente investigación en esta área especializada. La muestra la constituyó un grupo de 60 mujeres privadas de libertad sentenciadas y ubicadas en el Centro de Atención Institucional. El Buen Pastor, quienes para efectos de esta investigación fueron clasificadas según su historia delictiva con tendencia violenta o no violenta. Como parte de los procedimientos para la recolección de datos se aplicaron, entre otros instrumentos, el Inventario Multifásico de Personalidad de Minessota-2 (MMPI-2) y la Lista de Chequeo de la Psicopatía-Revisada (PCL-R) de Robert Hare, los cuales mostraron índices de confiabilidad satisfactorios con esta población. En relación con los resultados ofrecidos por el PCL-R se hizo posible conocer con mayor certeza la prevalencia del trastorno de psicopatía en la muestra estudiada, así como el hecho de que no se detectarán diferencias significativas en la manifestación de este trastorno en ofensoras violentas y no violentas. Además, se pudo establecer que las ofensoras con una historia delictiva con tendencia violenta presentaron un mejor grado de ajuste emocional y social que aquellas privadas de libertad con una carrera criminal en la cual predominaban las ofensas no violentas. No obstante, al diferenciar el tipo de violencia empleada por las mujeres evaluadas, se notó en las ofensoras instrumentalmente violentas un patrón de características psicológicas menos adaptativas en comparación con las ofensoras reactivas/hostiles.

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between psychological disorders and disturbances with criminal violence in a sample of Costa Rican female offenders. This investigation intended to provide some empirical and conceptual support to the field of forensic psychological assessment given that there is not enough research in our country concerning this specialized area. The sample was comprised of 60 female incarcerated offenders located at the correctional center "El Buen Pastor", who were classified according to their criminal history as violent and nonviolent offenders. PCL-R and MMPI-2 were used among other instruments. These instruments showed good reliability coefficients with this sample of female offenders. On the other hand, PLC-R results made it possible to know the prevalence of psychopathy in this sample as well as the fact that no significant differences existed between violent and nonviolent female offenders related to this personality disorder. Likewise, this study allowed to find out that offender with violent criminal history manifested a better level of psychological and social adjustment than those offenders with no violent criminal history. Finally, it was observed that instrumental violent offenders showed a pattern of psychological features less functional than reactive/hostile violent offenders.

Evaluación de la relación entre rasgos psicopatológicos de la personalidad y la calidad del sueño

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Abstract: Introduction. Diverse studies llave demonstrated the relationship between psychopathology and sleep alterations. Data proceeding from the ambulatory psychiatric field show that 70-75% of the patients experience sleep problems. The most frequent complaints refer to nighttime sleep alterations, excessive daytime sleep, difficulty with morning waking, and disturbances in the circadian rhythm of the sleep-wake cycle. Many studies, most of which use patient samples, have associated psychopathological personality traits and sleep disorders. All of these studies reveal that subjects with sleep disorder tend to be characterized by psychopathological traits (anxiety, psychasthenia, depression, etc.). There is some evidence that the structure of some dream dysfunctions (such as insomnia) is similar among general population and psychiatric samples; differences are more quantitative than qualitative. In samples of university students, the percentage of individuals who report bad sleep quality has been similar to the percentage of insomniacs in general population. With the aim to delve more deeply into the analogy between the sleep quality of normal subjects and clinical samples, and given the shortage of studies relating psychopathological traits of personality and sleep quality in normal population, this study intends to explore the relationship between the psychopathological personality variables included in the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) and the sleep quality evaluated with the Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index in a sample ofsubjects who have no diagnosed sleep disorder. The psychopathological variables included in the MMPI-2 which predict sleep quality in a non-clinical sample are also determined. Methodology. A sample of 222 individuals (186 women and 36 men) with a mean age of 21.65 years (SD=2.81) completes the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) and the Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), which provide an overall sleep quality measure and seven partial scores for different dimensions: Subjective sleep quality, Sleep latency, Sleep duration, Sleep habit efficiency, Sleep alterations, the use of hypnotic medication, and daytime dysfunction. Results. Some psychopathological traits (hypochondria, anxiety, and depression) correlate positively with almost all of the sleep quality dimensions comprising the PSQI. From a logistic regression model developed to predict the probability of being a good or bad sleeper, hypochondria and anxiety are the only statistically significant predictors. Discussion and conclusions. Human sleep, from a behavioral perspective, would be explained from four different dimensions: Circadian time (sleep-wake cycle situation on the nictemero), Organism (intrinsic factors such as age, sleep patterns, emotional states, etc.), Behavior (facilitating or inhibiting behaviors), and Environment (temperature, light, noise, etc.). Psychopathological personality traits, the main objective of this study, can also be included within the second component (organism). Previous studies using the MMPI have associated insomnia to high anxiety levels, depression, hypochondria, hysteria, and psychasthenia. The MMPI has also been considered to be a useful instrument in identifying different personality profiles ininsomnia subjects. There are, however, only a few studies focusing on the relationship between these personality traits and sleep quality in normal subjects. The results indicate that this study sample the subjects do not present serious sleep disorders. All of the components pertaining to the Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index present mean scores below the middle response range, situated in 1.5. However, if we consider the total score and bear in mind that a score of five is the cut-off point used to differentiate good sleepers from bad sleepers, we can classify 45.94% of the sample as bad sleepers. In considering the scores for the different MMPI-2 clinical scales, we should mention that none of them reached the typical score of 60; therefore no trait was found to be clinically significant. Some psychopathological traits are linked to almost all of the sleep quality dimensions. Hypochondria, anxiety, and depression are present in the associations with subjective sleep quality, disturbances, or daytime sleepiness. Though no stronger relations between use of hypnotic medication and psychopathological traits have been found (none of them above 0.30), a similar trend on patients dependent on benzodiazepines (predominating traits as depression, psychasthenia and schizophrenia) has been showed. It is also important to point out the relationship between daily dysfunction and the WRK scale (work interferences), which reveals the negative effects of daytime sleepiness, even in subjects who do not present important sleep disorders, as in this sample. On the other hand, the relationship between daily dysfunction and hypochondria, depression, and schizophrenia found in this study has previously been verified in patients with excessive daytime sleepiness. When considering the global score, we can clearly inform that health concerns (reflected in the Hs, HEA, and Hy scales) and the negative emotional states (D, ANX, and DEP scales) are related to sleep quality. These two factors (health concerns and anxiety) are part of the regression model, revealing that an increase in hypochondria and anxiety scores significantly increases the probability of being a bad sleeper, that is to say, of having a poor sleep quality. This explicative model presents a good predictive capacity which allows us to correctly classify 68.50% of the sample. We can correctly predict 78.30% of the good sleepers and 53.90% ofthe bad sleepers (scores higher than 5 on the Pittsburg global index), which grants the model an adequate specificity and sensibility. It is, however, necessary to consider that data used for the estimation respond to a range of restricted scores, causing any effect to be much less important than if we had worked with a more heterogeneous group of subjects. For example, global sleep quality scores can oscillate between 0 and 21, but in our sample they are comprised between 0 and 15. It is possible that, in including subjects who present high scores on the scales used in this study, a greater number of significant sleep quality predictors with greater magnitudes would be emphasized. Nevertheless, our interest resides in exploring the relationship between health concerns, anxiety and depression levels, and sleep quality in a non-clinical sample. So far, this relationship has not been explored in depth. One common limitation of these non-randomized studies is the difficulty to generalize findings to the normal population. Nevertheless, we assume higher possibilities to generalize findings if our study results are similar to those obtained from other non-clinical samples. In conclusion, health concerns and anxiety levels are the psychopathological traits most related to sleep quality and which hold a certain capacity to determine this quality in a sample of normal subjects. Both variables are clearly related to insomnia, as has been revealed in many insomnia patient studies. Therefore, we can verify that the pattern followed in the relationship between psychopathological traits and sleep quality in a non-clinical sample is similar to that found in sleep disorder patient samples, supporting that relationship between psychopathological traits and sleep quality in normal subjects opposite to patients with dream disorders can be drawn more easily from a quantitative than a qualitative approach.

Differentiate Indicator of Random Test of MMPI-2 / 中国心理卫生杂志

Objective:To find valid indicator to differentiate random test of MMPI-2.Methods:According to four coincidence indicators of MMPI-2 of 1278 psychiatric cases (male, 623; female,555), including VRIN,│F-Fb│,VRIN+│F-Fb│,F+Fb+│F-Fb│,differentiate random test of MMPI-2 were studied.Results:VRIN+-F-Fb-,-F-Fb-were the best indexes. VRIN was a fine index. F+Fb+ and│F-Fb│were poor.Conclusions:It is not good to use one coincidence indicator, but it can eliminate 91.50% of random test if the four coincidence indicators are used together.

Assessing General Maladjustment of Trauma Survivors with MMPI-2 / 中国临床心理学杂志

Objective: To investigate validities of MMPI- 2 measures of general maladjustment in people who had expe- rienced traumatic events. Methods: Participants were 43 patients with stress disorder (SD) and 44 well- adjusted trauma survivors(TS). Validities of 7 MMPI- 2 measures of general maladjustment were compared with the mean scores on 8 clini- cal scales (M8), which were considered as the criterion measure of general maladjustment. Results: Patients with SD ob- tained significantly higher scores on 6 measures and M8 than TS. Most of the measures were significantly related to M8 in both groups. Although F and PK sometimes added significantly to the variance accounting for the criterion measure, Pt added significantly and meaningfully to each of the other MMPI- 2 measure in predicting maladjustment. Conclusion: The results support the use of the MMPI- 2 as a measure of general maladjustment in trauma survivors. Pt emerges consistently as a good indicator of general maladjustment.

Assessing with the MMPI-2 for Stress Disorders / 中国心理卫生杂志

Objective: To investigate psychopathology and diagnostic efficiency with MMPI-2 in patients with stress disorder (SD). Methods: MMPI-2s were administered to twenty-nine patients with acute stress disorder (ASD), fourteen patients with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and forty-four well-adjusted trauma survivors. Results: Patients with ASD obtained significantly higher scores on F, Fb, Fp, Pa, Pt, Sc and Ma and lower on K, S than controls. PTSD patients scored significantly higher on F, Fb, Fp, Hs, D, Hy, Pa, Pt and Sc and lower on S than controls. There were significant differences in scores of Hs, D and Hy between patients with ASD and with PTSD. M678 code type was found as the mean profile for SD patients. Discriminate analysis indicated that Pa and Sc were the most important variables and it successfully classified 83.9% and 72.0% respectively in training sample and cross-validation sample. Conclusion: Patients with SD and trauma survivors show significantly different psychopathology and there were also differences between patients with ASD and with PTSD. MMPI-2 scales especially Pa and Sc were sensitive to posttraumatic stress symptoms.