The MMPI-2-RF in Practice

The MMPI-2-RF, the latest revision to the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, is one of the most widely researched and used psychological assessment instruments.

The MMPI-2-RF conceptualizes personality and psychopathology as a hierarchical arrangement of relatively narrow, focused, dimensional constructs. By comprehensively measuring 50–60 clinically relevant characteristics to describe the individual, the MMPI-2-RF both reflects and contributes to a historic paradigm shift in terms of how personalities and psychopathologies are rendered: Rather than trying to fit clients into specific diagnostic categories or label them with disorders, the MMPI-2-RF describes the individual as clearly and coherently as possible.

In this video, Dr. David M. McCord demonstrates how to administer the MMPI-2-RF while addressing a client's questions and concerns both compassionately and without divulging information that would influence the outcome of the assessment.

The MMPI-2-RF both reflects and contributes to a historic paradigm shift in the way we think about personality and psychopathology. Very briefly, the old paradigm was based on "disorders" represented as discrete categorical syndromes that were both very heterogeneous internally and heavily overlapping with other syndromes.

The DSM and ICD operationalize the old paradigm. The new paradigm re-conceptualizes personality and psychopathology as a hierarchical arrangement of relatively narrow, focused, dimensional constructs, as continua rather than taxa. The NIMH Research Domain Criteria project reflects this new paradigm, as do a number of relatively similar "five-factor" models of personality and psychopathology.

The MMPI-2-RF is very clearly associated with the new paradigm. From this perspective, clinical assessment does not focus on placing an individual into a diagnostic category; rather, the goal is to comprehensively measure 50–60 clinically relevant characteristics, to describe the individual as clearly and coherently as possible, and to recommend empirically supported interventions based on the characteristics found.

Dr. David M. McCord earned his BA in psychology at Duke University, his MA in clinical psychology at Western Carolina University, and his PhD in clinical psychology at the University of Alabama. He completed internship training at the School of Medicine, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Dr. McCord practiced as an assessment specialist for several years and then took a faculty position at Western Carolina University in 1989, where he has taught personality assessment at the graduate level since that time.

At Alabama, Dr. McCord was mentored by the late Raymond D. Fowler, former APA President and noted MMPI expert, and on internship he continued an MMPI focus under the tutelage of Charles S. Newmark.

Dr. McCord is an active scholar and frequent contributor to the annual MMPI Research Symposia, and he currently serves as the chair of the Advisory Board of the University of Minnesota Press Test Division, the owner of the MMPI.

• Ben-Porath, Y. S. (2012). Interpreting the MMPI-2-RF. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
• Ingram, P. B., Kelso, K. M, & McCord, D. M. (2011). Empirical correlates and expanded interpretation of the MMPI-2-RF Restructured Clinical Scale 3 (Cynicism). Assessment, 18(1), 95–101. doi: 10.1177/1073191110388147
• McCord, D. M. (2013). Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory. In D. S. Dunn (Ed.), Oxford bibliographies in psychology. New York: Oxford University Press. DOI: 10.1093/OBO/9780199828340-0118
• McCord, D. M., & Drerup, L. C. (2011). Relative practical utility of the MMPI-2 RC Scales versus the Clinical Scales in a chronic pain patient sample. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 33(1), 140–146. doi:10.1080/13803395.2010.495056

APA Videos

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APA Books

• APA Handbook of Testing and Assessment in Psychology
  Edited by Kurt F. Geisinger
• Interpretive Guide to the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory, Third Edition
  James P. Choca
• Personality Disorders: Toward Theoretical and Empirical Integration in Diagnosis and Assessment
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• Psychological Testing That Matters: Creating a Road Map for Effective Treatment
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• The Rorschach Inkblot Test: An Interpretative Guide for Clinicians
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• A Student's Guide to Assessment and Diagnosis Using the ICD-10-CM: Psychological and Behavioral Conditions
  Edited by Jack Schaffer and Emil R. Rodolfa
• Using the MMPI–2 in Forensic Assessment
  James N. Butcher, Giselle A. Hass, Roger L. Greene, and Linda D. Nelson

• Assessment Using the MMPI–2–RF
  

  This introductory guide provides a comprehensive overview of the MMPI–2–RF and lays out a step-by-step framework for interpreting test results.