Analysis of response patterns on the MMPI-2 in psychiatric prison inmates

In order to assess mental health status, and the classification of both the overreporting and underreporting scales and indexes, 102 psychiatric prison inmates deemed mentally incompetent to stand trial completed the Spanish adaptation of the MMPI-2 under standard instructions (honest responding). The results showed patterns of consistent, non-random, nor extremely acquiescent responses. Moreover, no-outlier responses were detected. In line with the psychiatric diagnosis, all the psychiatric prison inmates were classified by the basic clinical scales as clinical cases of the psychotic dyad i.e., schizophrenia and paranoid ideation. The overreporting scales and indexes (i.e., F, K, Fb, F-K, Fp, Ds and FBS) classified the participants as malingerers, whereas the L, Wsd, and Od underreporting scales as good feigners. These scales assessing impression management i.e., consciously faking good biased responses, did not classify overreporters. Thus, they are robust indicators of honest responding among psychiatric prison inmates. The implications of these results for the practice of forensic psychology are discussed.