A Beginner's Guide to the MMPI–2, Third Edition

In clear, accessible language, this book introduces readers to the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory–2 (MMPI–2), the most widely researched and broadly used personality assessment instrument. James N. Butcher, one of the authors of the MMPI–2, explains how the instrument was developed to describe and predict behavior in a range of applied settings. Guidance is provided for administering and interpreting the results, with case studies to illustrate major concepts.

Several updates have been made since the previous edition of this popular book, including new interpretive information on the MMPI–2, new areas for application of the MMPI–2, and—most importantly—a new chapter on the MMPI–2 Restructured Form (MMPI–2–RF), a separate short instrument that beginners may confuse with the MMPI–2.

This user-friendly but comprehensive primer is essential reading for nonpsychologist professionals who need a quick overview of the test, as well as for students of clinical and personality assessment who seek a reliable introductory text.

Preface

Acknowledgments

1. A Well Traveled Path: MMPI Use and Administration
2. To Believe or Not to Believe, That is the Question: Assessing the Validity of MMPI–2 Test Results
3. A Bond With the Past: The MMPI–2 Basic or Clinical Scales
4. The Analysis of Complex Cases: Code-Type Interpretation
5. The Content Scales: An Assessment of Client Content Themes
6. The MMPI–2 Supplemental Scales: An Appraisal of Special Problems
7. Putting It All Together: How to Interpret an MMPI–2 Profile and Organize Test Inferences
8. Using the MMPI–2 in Various Settings and Populations
9. The Report: Documenting and Explaining the Results of the MMPI–2 Evaluations
10. Departures from MMPI–2 Empirical Traditions: The Fake Bad Scale, Restructured Clinical Scales, and the MMPI–2–RF

Appendix A: Correlates of Selected MMPI–2 Code Types

Appendix B: Selected References for the MMPI–2

Glossary

References

Index

About the Author

James N. Butcher, PhD, earned his bachelor's degree in psychology at Guilford College in Greensboro, North Carolina, and both his master's degree in experimental psychology and his doctorate in clinical psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Currently a professor emeritus in psychology at the University of Minnesota and former editor of the APA's journal Psychological Assessment, he was awarded Doctor Honoris Causa by the Free University of Brussels, Belgium, and received an honorary doctorate from the University of Florence in Italy for his cross-cultural research. He was selected by the University of Minnesota Press to serve on the committee to revise and restandardize the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI).

He founded both the annual Symposium on Recent Developments in the Use of the MMPI and the International Conference on Personality Assessment.

Recent books include the Oxford Handbook of Personality (2009), Practitioner's Guide to the MMPI–2 (2006), Use of the MMPI–2 in Court (3rd ed., with Ken Pope and Joyce Seelen, 2006), and Abnormal Psychology in Modern Life (14th ed., with Susan Mineka and Jill Hooley, 2010).

Dr. Butcher also consults and testifies as an expert witness in trials involving the MMPI.