MMPI‐2 profiles of Gulf and Vietnam combat veterans with chronic posttraumatic stress disorder

Abstract

The current study examined service era differences in a sample of 172 Gulf and Vietnam outpatient veterans with combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Participants completed the MMPI-2 and several additional self-report measures of symptom severity (PTSD, depression, anxiety, hostility, and health complaints). Results indicated that MMPI-2 profiles differed significantly according to service era with Vietnam veterans scoring higher on scales 2, 8, and 0 and lower on scale 9 than did Gulf veterans. Examination of group means derived from parametric analysis of MMPI-2 data suggested a mean two-point code type of 2-8/8-2 for Vietnam veterans and 1-8/8-1 for Gulf veterans. In contrast, when the data were examined using descriptive techniques based on frequency counts of individual MMPI-2 profiles, the most frequently occurring two-point codetype was 7-8/8-7 for Vietnam veterans, and 6-8/8-6 for Gulf veterans. In addition, Gulf veterans reported a greater number of total health complaints than Vietnam veterans, whereas Vietnam veterans reported a greater number of physician-diagnosed physical conditions. Potential advantages of incorporating descriptive approaches versus parametric methods when examining profile data are also presented.

Lasting personality pathology following exposure to catastrophic trauma in adults: Systematic review

“…These symptoms were more prominent in treatment‐seeking war veterans (inpatients and outpatients) (Ford, ; Jongedijk et al, ) than civilian war victims (Morina & Ford, ). Five studies reported increased scores on hypochondriacs/somatization scale (Daud et al, ; Engdahl, Speed, Eberly, & Schwartz, ; Ford et al, ; Glenn et al, ; Morina & Ford, ). Guilt, suspicion, distrust, impulsiveness, aggression, avoidance, detachment, psychasthenia, mental defeat, feelings of emotional numbness and alienation, inability to express emotions and loss of interest in usual activities present a range of personality characteristics observed by the rest of the studies presented in Table (Daud et al, ; Ehlers, Maercker, & Boos, ; Forbes et al, ; Foy, Sipprelle, Rueger, & Carroll, ; Hunt & Gakenyi, ; Richman & Frueh, ; Yager, Laufer, & Gallops, ).…”

Investigating the MMPI–2 Trauma Profile in Treatment-Seeking Peacekeepers

“…Also, mean elevations on many of the MMPI-2 Clinical scales were within the same range, so no code type could be defined that adequately reflected the profile presented by most veterans in this study. These results underscore the notion that a mean code type cannot be expected to accurately reflect individual code types (Baldrachi et al, 1999;Glenn et al, 2002;Mozley et al, 2005;Munley et al, 1995). In fact, clinicians and researchers should expect a variety of code types and profiles to emerge in trauma populations, irrespective of the presence of PTSD (Wise, 1996).…”

Implementing an Assessment Clinic in a Residential PTSD Program

“…While not specifically a measure of PTSD, at current review nearly 300 peer-reviewed articles are listed on Psych Info and over 7000 citations are listed on Google Scholar examining the relationship between the MMPI-2 and PTSD symptomology. Numerous articles have been published regarding the common symptom profiles for individuals with PTSD and specific PTSD scales within the MMPI (e.g., [24,25,26,27,28]). Another reason for the addition of the MMPI-2 was the presence of validity scales.…”