Screening for borderline personality disorders with the MMPI-168

Area of Science:

• Psychiatry
• Psychological Assessment
• Personality Disorders

Background:

• Borderline personality disorder (BPD) presents diagnostic challenges.
• The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) is a widely used psychological assessment tool.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the MMPI-168's utility as a screening instrument for DSM-III diagnosed borderline personality disorder.
• To identify distinguishing MMPI-168 score patterns in individuals with BPD.

Main Methods:

• The study compared MMPI-168 scores of 27 individuals with BPD to percentile norms of college graduates.
• Specific scale scores and the K scale score were analyzed for significant differences.

Main Results:

• Borderline patients scored significantly higher on multiple MMPI-168 scales, including F, Hypochondriasis, Depression, Hysteria, Psychopathic Deviate, Psychasthenia, Schizophrenia, and general psychopathology (PSY).
• Elevated scores were also noted on Paranoia (above 95th percentile) and Social Introversion (above 90th percentile).
• A notably low K scale score (8th percentile) distinguished the BPD sample from the normative group.

Conclusions:

• The MMPI-168 demonstrates a distinguishable response pattern for individuals with borderline personality disorder.
• These findings suggest the MMPI-168 can serve as a potential screening tool for BPD, differentiating it from the general college graduate population.