A Study of Alcoholics with the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory

Abstract

The MMPI was administered to 101 male alcoholics hospitalized in a California state mental hospital as part of a research project. Techniques of handling the results are discussed, especially the use of the new "cluster analysis" approach. Results are handled in terms of personality description and diagnosis, compared with results of other tests administered in the same project, and used as a beginning of a theory of alcoholism. Specific results are as follows: (1) a "basic" MMPI profile for alcoholics is presented and discussed; (2) a delineation of two "types"[long dash]candid and defensive[long dash]of alcoholics is made on the basis of MMPI results; (3) "dynamic," as opposed to nosological descriptions of alcoholics are presented in MMPI terms; and (4) an empirically-derived "al" (for alcoholism) scale, 59 items in all, is presented, to add to the ever-increasing use of the MMPI as a tool for the understanding of patients. Finally, discussion is held of the importance in the understanding of alcoholism of the alcoholic''s conscious perception of himself.