G.P. DONÀ, F. MICHELUZZI, V.MORO - Vol. 10, March 2004, Issue 1
Testo Immagini Bibliografia Summary Indice
Normalità e patologia psichiatrica:
quale differenza? Un’analisi statistica
sulle scale Fondamentali e di Contenuto del test MMPI-2
Normality and Psychiatric Pathology: what is the difference?
A statistical analysis on the Fundamental and Content Scales of the MMPI-2
test
Aim
The research aims to verify if the scales of MMPI-2, both
Fundamental and content, can discriminate the subjects in a normal condition,
in a non-psychiatric condition and in an overt psychiatric condition.
According with our initial hypothesis, the group of psychiatric patients would
score higher on the scales referring to pathological symptoms (F, D, Pd, Pa,
Pt, Sc scales), while the group of non-psychiatric hospitalized patients should
score higher on some content scales like ANX, FRS, HEA, and ANG; for the nomal
subjects, the scores in basic scales and in content scales should not be particularly
off-range.
Methods
We considered the MMPI protocols we had and we limited three
litle samples, the more possible homogeneous in number, sex, age and level
of education (medim-high cultural level). In total the subjects are 51, divided
in: 17 normal subjects (7 men and 10 women), 17 non psychiatric hospitalized
subjects (7 men and 10 women) and 17 subjects with an evident psychiatric
pathology (7 men and 10 women).
The test was administered at the 3rd Psychiatric Service of the Hospital of
Padua for the psychiatric patients and at other wards of the same Hospital
of Padua for the hospitalized group. The normal subjects are constituted by
a certain number of colleagues, university students and professionals.
For the statistical analysis we used these methods: analysis of variance and
method of Scheffé.
Results
The statistical analysis has revealed a substantial difference,
from the sample, in almost all Fundamental scales, except the L scale; the
highest values were observed in the F, K, D, Pd, Pa, Pt, and Sc scales, with
p = .000. In the Fundamental scales F, K, D, Hy, Pd, Pa, Pt, Sc, Si, the comparison
between the normal sample and the non-psychiatric hospitalized one showed
no significant differences, while in these variables the psychiatric group
scored higher than the other two groups.
In the Ma scale the psychiatric subjects scored higher than the hospitalized
ones who, in turn, scored higher than normal controls.
Regarding the fifteen content scales, all the scales are significant, except
FRS, CYN and ASP. The highest values were observed on the ANX, OBS, DEP, BIZ,
ANG, LSE, WRK, TRT with p = .000. Also for the content scales ANX, OBS, DEP,
HEA, BIZ, ANG, TPA, LSE, SOD, FAM, WRK, TRT the comparison between the normal
sample and the non-psychiatric hospitalized one yielded no significant differences,
while in these variables the psychiatric subjects scored higher than the other
two groups.
Conclusions
In concusion, results confirm a positive discriminative ability of the MMPI-2 test according to the presence or absence of overt psychiatric morbidity, since it seems that the group influences the answers given to the Fundamental scales and those of content that proved to be significant. In the psychiatric patients the significantly higher score in the F scale can be interpreted as a sign of the current psychopathological suffering. The lower score in the validity K scale associated with mental illness seems in tune with what is described in literature: the psychiatric subjects have a fragile Ego without effective defences. Instead, it seems that the normal subjects face the MMPI-2 using more strict defences, while the hospitalized group is in an intermediate position between the other two groups. The psychiatric subjects score significantly higher on the scales referring to pathological symptoms (D, Hy, Pd, Pa, Pt, Sc, Si); the high scores in the Hs, D, Hy scales show the presence of a neurotic component that renders the psychopathological profile "softer".Psychiatric subjects score significantly higher on the basic scale Ma; this could be interpreted as showing increased mental productivity, physical agitation and emotional arousal.In the content scales that proved to be significant for the "group" (ANX, OBS, DEP, HEA, BIZ, ANG, TPA, LSE, SOD, FAM, WRK, TRT), the psychiatric group scored significantly higher than the other two groups; instead, there is no substantial difference between the hospitalized subjects and the normal ones. These scales seem sensitive to the presence of a psychopathological profile; in the normal and non-psychiatric subjects these variables could indicate favourable personality characteristics.