A validity study of the MMPI Alexithymia subscale conducted on migraine headache outpatients

A validity study of Kleiger and Kinsman's MMPI alexithymia subscale was conducted upon a patient population of 56 migraine headache outpatients. Kleiger and Kinsman's initial research was replicated in terms of Beth Israel Hospital Psychosomatic Questionnaire (BIQ) and Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) assessment. Their results were not supported, and, instead, a trend towards an inverse relationship between BIQ ratings and MMPI subscale scores was reported. The findings of the study call into question the validity of the MMPI alexithymia subscale when applied to different patient populations than the respiratory disordered group used by Kleiger and Kinsman for the original MMPI subscale derivation.