The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) is often used for evaluating candidates for gastric bypass surgery, chronic pain patients, head trauma victims, and medical school applicants. However, due to the considerable time involved in completing and scoring the standard MMPI, researchers have attempted to devise short versions of this instrument to reduce the time required while providing similar results. In recent years, the Faschingbauer Abbreviated MMPI (FAM) and the MMPI-16 8 have been proposed as viable MMPI substitutes. The present study examined the comparability between profiles using these short versions of the MMPI with the patterns obtained using the entire measure. Participants consisted of equal numbers of gastric bypass candidates, chronic pain patients, head trauma victims, and medical school applicants. Scores on the FAM tended to be similar to scores on the complete MMPI for gastric bypass, chronic pain and head trauma patients. In contrast, the MMPI-16 8 yielded profiles which were similar to complete MMPI profiles with chronic pain and head trauma patients.