Evidence for an Anorexic/Bulimic MMPI Profile

While there have been few reports of psychological assessment of eating disordered patients, studies using the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) to assess eating disordered subjects found that female anorexics had remarkably similiar profiles (score elevations of 70 or more) to female schizophrenics on the Depression (D), Psychopathic Deviate (Pd), Psychasthenic (Pt), Paranoia (Pa), and Schizophrenic (Sc) scales of the MMPI. MMPI profiles of bulimic women and women with alcohol or drug abuse problems were also similar. To assess and compare the personality characteristics of anorexics and bulimics using the MMPI and to compare these results to the earlier results, volunteers who met the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM III) criteria for anorexia and bulimia (37 female bulmics and 4 female anorexics) were interviewed, given a diagnosis, and administered the MMPI on the same day. Analyses of results showed that both bulimics and anorexics had similar profile configurations. Remarkable similarities were also obtained in profile configurations when comparing these results with the earlier results. The findings suggest that elevated D, Pd, Pt, and Sc scores for women, even when not all scale points are above T-scores of 70, should alert the clinician to the possibility of an eating or substance abuse disorder. (MCF) **********************************************************************1 Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. *****************************************w****************************1