[Assessment of personality disorders with the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory (MCMI-II) in a forensic sample]

In this paper, the presence of personality disorders in a forensic sample is analysed using the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory (MCMI-II). The sample was made up of 86 individuals from both civil and criminal settings: plaintiffs in family cases and complainants and defendants in various crimes, especially in partner abuse. The results reveal a great number of records of Compulsive Personality Disorder, reaching 70%, regardless of whether they were from the civil or the criminal setting or whether they were a plaintiff or a defendant. It is concluded that this inventory seems to lack statistical validity for this purpose. Moreover, this test may only describe the typical characteristics of forensic evaluation rather than the personality of the individuals assessed, and it is oversensitive to context; hence, the conclusions derived from the use of the MCMI-II in the forensic field may accept as valid a great deal of distorted or unspecific profiles.