Faculty Articles
Clinical Presentations of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder across Trauma Populations: A Comparison of MMPI-2 Profiles of Combat Veterans and Adult Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
10-2000
Publication Title
Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease
Volume
188
Issue/Number
10
First Page
708
ISSN
0022-3018
Last Page
713
Abstract/Excerpt
This investigation examined differences in symptom patterns of two different trauma samples using the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2). MMPI-2s of 122 male combat veterans seeking outpatient treatment for combat-related PTSD were compared with those of 64 PTSD-diagnosed adults seeking outpatient treatment for the effects of child sexual abuse (CSA). We examined variables related to degree of health concerns, depression, somatization, anger and hostility, masculine-feminine traits, paranoid ideation, anxiety, difficulties thinking and concentrating, elevated mood, and social introversion, as well as test-taking attitude. MANOVAs revealed between-group differences on several variables. However, when analyses controlled for the effect of age, nearly all differences disappeared; the only remaining difference was in a scale measuring anger. Thus, it appears CSA survivors and combat veterans are much more similar than different in their clinical presentation on the MMPI-2. Conceptual issues in the assessment of PTSD are discussed.
DOI
10.1097/00005053-200010000-00010
NSUWorks Citation
Elhai, J. D.,
Frueh, B. C.,
Gold, P. B.,
Gold, S. N.,
Hamner, M. B.
(2000). Clinical Presentations of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder across Trauma Populations: A Comparison of MMPI-2 Profiles of Combat Veterans and Adult Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 188(10), 708-713.
Available at: https://nsuworks.nova.edu/cps_facarticles/665
