My Psychiatric Evaluation - Just for you guys...

[Christopher2012]

Yes, I created a new thread for this. I figured that since you guys have been telling me to get professional help for months, this will be a follow-up for you. Hope you enjoy.

Now, first thing's first. A standardized test called the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) was given. It's a test that contains 570 questions based on the true/false format. I'll be honest and say that I don't quite understand how the results are scored but I will say that it is somehow transformed into a graph with different "profiles." A profile is basically a line graph trend. Some parts of the graph are designated to problems such as anxiety, depression, social isolation, mania, etc.

My profile peaked in three places: depression, anxiety, and social isolation. The peaks were so close together that I actually can fall into two different profiles for which I'll quote here. I'll leave out the statistics pieces to simplify the explanations.

Profile 1

This common psychiatric pattern reflects self-devaluation, intropunitiveness, tension, and nervousness. Some elevation on Scales 2 and 7 is desirable in candidates for psychotherapy as this usually indicates internal distress with motivation for change, as well as some introspective bent. Extreme elevations, however, often mean that the individual is so agitated and worried that he cannot settle down to the business of psychotherapy. Other forms of therapeutic intervention become necessary.

Profile 2

This profile type is found with great frequency among psychiatric patients and is rare among normal. It represents multiple neurotic manifestations, including the distress syndrome (nervousness, anxiety, and depression), the neurasthenic syndrome (weakness, fatigue, lack of initiative) and a pervading lack of self-esteem and self-confidence. Their anxiety is typically quite manifest clinically. Psychic conflicts can be expected to be represented in hypochondriacal tendencies and somatic complaints, especially cardiac symptoms, insomnia, and anorexia. Patients with such profiles are likely to be pessimistic worriers, guilt-ridden and intropunitive, generally fearful and obsessively preoccupied with their personal deficiencies, the latter being in a disturbing conflict with their typically perfectionistic and meticulous attitudes and their strong motive for personal achievement and recognition. To frustration they characteristically respond by self-blame and neurotic guilt feelings. Diagnostic Impression: (1) Anxiety Reaction; (2) Depressive Reaction; (3) Obessive-compulsive Reaction.

Some of these 2-7s turn out to be quite resistant to change with psychotherapy in spite of the generally good prognosis often associated with this pattern. They may, in fact, become psychological invalids and professional patients going from one therapist to another. In males, the presence of an elevated Scale 5 may be a poor prognosis sign for improvement.

(Edit: I did not have an elevation in scale 5, which is a scale of masculinity/femininity. My Scale 5 was neutral.)

So there you have it. That's a $750 test. Now, I have to find out how much my insurance covered...

 

[LadyVer]

I think there's more to you than your psychiatric areas, but in one's 20's sometimes it's hard to see the forest through the trees.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

I took the MMPI in grad school. The test makers interviewed 1000s of people and created the scales from the answers specific groups gave to the same questions.