MMPI profile patterns of emotional disability claimants

MMPI profiles of 185 Pacific Bell employees referred for psychological evaluation were compared to a sample of 200 seen for psychiatric evaluation related to Workers' Compensation litigation. In both samples, an almost identical percentage of MMPI profiles reflected significant psychopathology (85% vs. 83%). In the Pacific Bell sample, there were almost twice as many MMPIs of questionable validity (16%) as in the Worker's Compensation study (7%). The most striking finding is that the same five two-point Code-Types were the most frequently occurring in both samples; they accounted for about half of the profiles in each study. Three of these Code-Types, 12/21, 13/31, and 23/32, which involve the Hypochondriasis, Depression, and Hysteria scales, represented 38% of the Workers' Compensation and 26% of the Pacific Bell samples. These three Code-Types are characteristic of somatization of psychogenic complaints.