Anxiety and anger as predictors of MMPI elevations in chronic pain patients

Studies utilizing the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) with chronic pain patients have almost without exception found marked elevations on the Hypochondriasis (Hs), Depression (D), and Hysteria (Hy) scales. The present data reveal that Trait Anxiety was a significant predictor of elevations on all three of these scales for both males and females. Trait Anger emerged as a classical suppressor variable for males only. The implications of these findings are discussed.