A scale for the evaluation of psychological distress

A state measure of psychological distress (DI) was developed from the MMPI item pool. The DI scale was found to be reliable (internally consistent and stable) and to be unaffected by social desirability. MMPI measures of stress and anxiety measure external to the MMPI were found to correlate well with the DI scale. The alcoholic Ss of this study were found to experience greater psychological distress than medical patients at the Mayo Clinic. Moreover, females (both alcoholics and medical patients) scored higher in psychological distress than did males.