Although many theorists have speculated that chronic pain may be linked to some sort of central neuropsychological integration deficit, a review of the current literature reveals no empirical support for this theory. This study attempts to assess the severity, if any, of neuropsychological deficits in chronic pain subjects by using a neuropsychological screen developed at the University of North Texas. Also, presented are studies of correlations between the UNT Neuropsych-screen and the MMPI. the Dallas Pain Questionnaire (DPQ), the Dallas Pain Drawing CDPD), and time since injury in order to assess any possible relationships. The subjects in this study consist of 100 volunteers. Of these subjects, 74 were patients of the Spinal and Chronic Pain Center at Medical Arts Hospital in Dallas, Texas and represented the clinical population. The remaining 26 subjects were staff volunteers from the hospital . The results of the study indicate significant differences between chronic pain subjects and non-pain subjects across many areas of neuropsychological functioning, as well as other significant correlations among many of the variables. The implications of this study are elaborated upon, in the discussion section, in detail along with limitations and future research directions.

Three drug and alcohol use screening scales are embedded within the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2: the MacAndrew Alcoholism Scale (MAC) and its revised version (MAC-R), the Addiction Acknowledgement Scale (AAS), and the Addiction Potential Scale (APS). The current study evaluated the reliability reporting practices among 210 studies administering the MAC/MAC-R, APS, and/or AAS. Furthermore, reliability generalization methods were used to characterize the previously reported reliability estimates associated with each instrument. The vast majority of studies (90.6%) did not provide measurement reliability data, suggesting a need for improved psychometric reporting. Data from the remaining studies yielded mean and median score reliability estimates below.70 for each of the identified measures. Although limited in some instances by sample size constraints, results suggest that these instruments tend not to produce scores with acceptable levels of reliability for most research or clinical situations.

It is apparent to college workers that inadequate adjustment to college loses many potential scholars to the world. It is further apparent that many students fall short of realizing their full capabilities because of lack of adjustment. To meet this condition, more and more colleges and universities are instituting and developing counseling services. Because of the increases cost of such service and the extended time involved, it has become apparent that any device which improves the efficiency of counseling is highly desirable. As this counseling service has grown and expanded, college advisors have realized the service that could be performed if it were possible to anticipate abnormal reactions before they occur. In the past, this has been difficult because of the lack of properly validated predictive devices. Of course, hasty conclusions can be drawn from impressions, but they are as often faulty as valid. Since the signs of latent personality disturbances and, in many cases, even existing maladjustment, are often not revealed in overt behavior, devices which would aid counselors in selecting from a large population the individuals having or who are likely to develop problems of a personal and social adjustment would be very helpful. In this investigation, the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, a device which has been found valid in other situations, will be evaluated with the intent of discovering how valid this test is in determining maladjustment in college life. Specifically, it will be determined to what extent scores on this inventory earned by students when they enter college will be predictive of maladjustment which may develop later in several aspects of college life.

The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) has been v recognized as a helpful tool to the psychologist in identifying abnormal characteristics (Leverenz, 1956; Modlin, 1956; Hathaway and Mckinley, 1967; Hock, 1970). Likewise the Shipley-Institute of Living Scale for Measuring Intellectual Impairment (S-H) has also been recognized as a helpful tool in identifying emotional impairment (Pollack, 1942; Halstead, 1943; Fleming, 1943; Wright, 1946; Garfield and Fey, 1948; Lewinsohn, 1963) . Despite the research which suggests both tests are capable of helpful diagnosis in the general area of psychological impairment (Welch, 1956; Lewinsohn, 1963), little if any work has been done examining the compatibility of the two instruments. Therefore, a correlation study was made between the two tests. Sixty-one male in-patients of the Wyoming State Hospital, between the ages of 18-45 (Garfield and Fey, 1948) and having a verbal IQ of 14. 3 years (Shipley and Burlingame, 1941), were administered both the S-H and the MMPI. The conceptual quotient (CQ), "a measure of intellectual impairment based upon the assumption that where there is intellectual impairment, vocabulary is less affected than is the capacity for abstract thinking and that in such cases there will be a discrepancy between vocabulary level and the ability to handle abstract problems" (Lewinsohn, 1963, p. 444) of the S-H, was correlated with the number of Peterson's Psychotic Profile Signs (Peterson, 1954) a patient might acquire after taking the MMPI. Peterson's model was chosen as the criteria for discriminating MMPI profiles because of its relative case of use and successful experimental value (Peterson, 1954). Secondly, the CQ score was correlated with each individual subtest "T" score of the MMPI. Analysis of the experimental data was achieved statistically by use of Pearson's product-moment correlation. The results of the study showed no significant correlation between S-H's CQ and Peterson's signs. Further, no significant correlation was found with eight of the ten subtest scores on the MMPI and Shipley's CQ. However, there was a low but significant correlation between Shipley's CQ and the Hy and Mf subscales of the MMPI. No determining factor was found to explain the common variance in these two correlations.

The Drug Treatment and Training Project of the State of Oregon Mental Health Division, Alcohol and Drug section in Portland, Oregon is engaged in the treatment of young people between the ages of 15 and 27 who have indicated that they have a problem with drugs, and have asked help in overcoming this problem. As part of the treatment program, the clients are given the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) and a questionnaire developed by the drug project. The thesis analyses the Drug Treatment’s MMPI results and compares them to other studies.

Common medications utilized in the treatment of psychosis include lithium carbonate and the major tranquilizers. The efficacy of lithium is well established in the treatment of manic-depressive patients exhibiting symptoms of mania. The major tranquilizers treat a broader range of psychotic disorders including schizophrenia. In the treatment of manic-depressive illness, lithium produces normalization of affect with few side effects. However, since the interval between therapeutic and toxic dosages is narrow, lithium treatment must be closely monitored to avoid severe physical problems and even death. When a schizophrenic is incorrectly diagnosed as manic-depressive, and is treated with lithium, the patient does not benefit from treatment; this also constitutes an inappropriate risk for lithium toxicity. Conversely, when a manic-depressive is incorrectly diagnosed as schizophrenic and treated with major tranquilizers, the patient benefits only from the sedative effects of these drugs while risking the often debilitating side effects associated with them. Due to the similarity of their associated symptoms, the diagnostic discrimination of mania and schizophrenia is often difficult. This presents a problem, as diagnoses play an important role in the determination of the treatment of functional psychosis. The difficulty in achieving satisfactory levels of accuracy in diagnosis and subsequent choices of treatment for these two conditions may be due to the subjective nature of behavioral observations and clinical judgments in diagnostic interviews. The hazards of clinical judgment can be reduced through the application of appropriate objective tests. This research developed a scale from the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) item pool which is associated with therapeutic response to lithium carbonate.

This study compared one group of pedophiles, two groups of incestuous fathers, and two groups of incestuous stepfathers on their individual MMPI scale scores and self-reported demographic data. Past research on sex offenders has shown that patterns of variables are better indicators of offender typology than single variables. A nonrandom sample of male abusers (N=177) was drawn from two separate sources, a clinic that screens offenders for treatment disposition and an unrelated outpatient treatment clinic in the Portland, Oregon area. Scores from the 13 MMPI scales as well as data from 17 demographic variables were drawn from clinic interviews and intake records of the offenders. The demographic data included age of the offender, educational level, age at first marriage, number of marriages, number of juvenile and adult arrests, number of jobs, number of past inpatient treatment periods, outpatient treatment periods, and incarcerations, alcohol consumption level, recreational drug usage, adoption status, and incidence of foster care, physical, and sexual abuse. Of these variables, several are susceptible to error in self-report, especially alcohol consumption level, which may be subject to the usefulness of a particular report to the offender. Hence, one statistical analysis was made eliminating alcohol consumption level as a variable.

The MMPI has been used extensively for the clinical assessment of deviancy among sexual offenders. In order to derive a diagnostic scale for the specific identification of male incest offenders, an item analysis, using MMPI data from offenders, compared MMPI data from a nonoffending control sample. The item analysis results were cross validated with MMPI data from a separate sample of incest offenders. Eleven MMPI items were found to be critical in discriminating male incest offenders from nonoffenders, and these items comprise the Ic experimental scale. On the basis of the Ic scale, male incest offenders evidence characterological disturbances in the form of pervasive feelings of psychological and social inadequacy.

Magister Artium (Psychology) - MA(Psych) / In 'n geïndustrialiseerde en Westers-georiënteerde samelewing, kenmerkend van sommige bevolkingsektore van Suid-Afrika, is 'n slanke figuur soms aanduidend van skoonheid en gesondheid. Dit is daarom geensins buitengewoon dat gewigsbewustheid een van die belangrikste verskynsels van ons tyd is nie. Duisende oorgewig-persone poog om 'n "norm" van slankheid na te streef (Polivy & Herman, 1987). Estetiese oorwegings is egter nie die. enigste rede waarom mense gewigsbewus is nie. Versekeringstatistieke dui toenemend daarop dat oorgewig-persone 'n hoër mortaliteitsyfer toon (Stunkard, stinnet & Smoller, 1986). Hierdie uiters nadelige gevolge van oorgewig is tweërlei van aard, naamlik psigies en fisiek. Spesifieke fisieke gevolge waarna in die literatuur (Kirschner, Schneider, Ertel & Gorman, 1988; Millar & Stephens, 1986) verwys word, is beroerte, diabetes, kardiovaskulêre- en ortopediese komplikasies. Op sielkundige vlak verwys Stunkard et al. (1986) na sielkundige stoornisse wat uniek is aan die obese populasie. Hierdie stoornisse kan terug gevoer word na die belewenis van uitermatige sosiale diskriminasie en vooroordeel (Rodin, Schank, Striegel & Moore, 1989). Hoër vlakke van stres, angs,depressie en In verwronge liggaamsbeeld word met die oorgewig-persoon geassosieer (Rodin et al., 1989; Stunkard et al.,1986). In talle gevalle moet hierdie sielkundige las as die grootste negatiewe gevolg van obesiteit beskou word. In Bykomende verskynsel ten opsigte van die probleem van oorgewig is die toename in die oorgewigsyfer van die wêreldpopulasie. Oberholzer (1984) beweer dat alreeds eenderde van die Suid -Afrikaanse bevolking oorgewig is. Ten spyte van die toename in die oorgewigsyfer word In begrip van die verskynsel bemoeilik deur die magdom teoretiese aannames en teenstrydighede rakende die etiologie, behandeling, en voorkoming daarvan. Ten opsigte van die etiologie van obesiteit besef te min klinici die multifaktoriale aard van die verskynsel en verklaar hulle dit dikwels slegs vanuit In enkele perspektief (Sobal & Stunkard, 1989) . Met betrekking tot die behandeling daarvan bestaan daar In wye verskeidenheid van benaderings wat chemoterapie, chirurgie, dieetterapie, akupunktuur, fisieke oefening en psigoterapie insluit.

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