The aim of this study was to find potential signs of genetic vulnerability to schizophrenia. The differences between adoptees at high genetic risk for schizophrenia (their biological mother had a schizophrenia spectrum disorder) and control adoptees of non-schizophrenia spectrum biological mothers were assessed. The comparisons between these groups were based on the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) test's subscale scores adjusted by gender, age at MMPI assessment, age at placement into the adoptive family and social class. The subjects were a subsamples of a total of 182 tested adoptees and 136 mentally healthy adoptees in the Finnish Adoptive Family Study. The high-risk group was found to be distinguishable from the low-risk group based on deviant scores on the Hostility, Hypomania and Lie scales. These scales may measure genetic vulnerability and also possibly be indicative of psychometric deviance predicting future onset of schizophrenia.

Although a great deal of biological research has been carried out on several psychiatric disorders, it is disappointing to see how little progress has been made in the field of the biology of personality. The authors underline the methodological problems that arise in the investigation of biological substrates of human personality and review both currently available and putative peripheral markers of the central nervous system that might be used in further human studies.

The relationship between growth hormone (GH) response to clonidine and the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) was assessed in 20 major depressive inpatients. GH response to clonidine was negatively correlated with the depression, the psychasthenia as well as the social introversion MMPI scale scores, and positively correlated with the hypomania scale scores. In contrast, the Carroll depression scale did not exhibit any relationship with either GH response to clonidine or MMPI depression scale. These findings support the role of the clonidine test and several MMPI scales as trait markers for depressive illness.

Frequently, depression is a concomitant pathology in anorexia nervosa. To verify this, we carried out a comparative case/control study with 50 anorexic patients, restricting-type (ANP), 50 depressed patients (DP) and 50 non-patients (NP), aged between 13 and 16. We used the Rorschach Test and the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) and compared the results to parent's observations collected from the Achenbach Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). Results showed two clearly different groups among participants: ANP with depression (36%) and ANP without depression (64%). This seems to indicate that depression is not a core element in anorexic disorders. However, we also observed a significant increase in the MMPI scale 2, which was probably related to starvation and weight loss. We confirmed the absence of general anxiety in the ANP group and obtained differences between depressive symptoms and those derived from coping deficit disorders. The discussion emphasizes the importance of using several tests to reduce bias in results and conclusions.

Data from 16-year-old Finnish twin pairs were used to estimate familial effects on religiosity and the modification of those effects by sex and residential region. The sample of 2265 twin boys and 2521 twin girls formed 779 monozygotic and 1614 dizygotic pairs, 785 of the same sex and 829 of opposite sex. We compared religiosity scores of twins living in more rural and traditional northern Finland with those living in the more urban and secular southern region. Girls had higher religiosity scores than did boys, and twins living in northern Finland had higher religiosity scores than those resident in southern Finland. Correlations for monozygotic twins were slightly higher than those for dizygotic twins, and covariance modeling found modest heritability of religiosity [11% (95% CI 0–24) for girls; 22% (95% CI 6–38) for boys], and substantial shared environmental effects [60% (95% CI 49–69) and 45% (95% CI 31–57)] among girls and boys, respectively. The correlation between shared environmental effects in boys and girls was estimated to be 0.84 (95% CI 0.73–0.99). In analyses distinguishing region of residence, girls living in southern Finland were found to have significantly higher unshared environmental effects than girls in northern Finland, while boys living in the urban south appeared to have lower shared environmental effects, and higher additive genetic effects, than boys living in the rural north.

Objective: This study explores unrecognised symptoms related to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in individuals with a range of psychiatric disorders in the absence of traumatic events. We also examine the association between PTSD symptoms, social interaction with peers and therapeutic alliance with mental health professionals.

Method: A purposive sample of 120 adults consecutively referred to the psychology department from September 2008 to September 2010 was included in this study. We used the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory 2 (MMPI-2) to ascertain the presence of PTSD symptoms, social interaction levels and treatment alliance with health professionals.

Results: Individuals previously undiagnosed with PTSD, referred without any noted traumatic event had high levels of symptoms related to PTSD, as measured by the PK scale of the MMPI-2. The PK scale was significantly correlated with several MMPI-2 clinical scales, the Social Introversion Scale (Si) and the Treatment Alliance Scale (TRT) (p < 0.001).

Conclusion: This study demonstrated the presence of symptoms related to PTSD in individuals with a range of psychiatric disorders despite the absence of reported trauma. The presence of symptoms related to PTSD may be associated with an indirect negative impact on social contacts and a poorer therapeutic alliance with mental health professionals. Investigating symptoms of PTSD during a psychological assessment even when trauma is not the presenting complaint is merited in most cases.

Objectives: To investigate schema modes currently activated in individuals with psychiatric disorders and to attain a greater understanding of healthy and dysfunctional schema modes in this population. Furthermore, we wish to ascertain if individuals who fulfil criteria for clinical (psychiatric) disorders with the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), also manifest dysfunctional modes and weaker healthy modes on the Schema Mode Inventory (SMI).

Method: Fifty individuals were administered the MMPI and SMI during routine psychological assessments between September 2008 and June 2010.

Results: Both healthy schema modes (Happy Child (HC) and dysfunctional schema modes (Compliant Surrender (CS), Detached Self-soother (DSS) and Demanding Parent (DP)) were evident in this population. Positive correlations were noted between several dysfunctional schema modes from the Child, Maladaptive Coping and Maladaptive Parent domains of the SMI and several scales of the MMPI including: Depression (D), Psychopathic deviate (Pd), Masculine feminine (Mf), Paranoia (Pa), Psychasthenia (Ps), Mania (Ma), Schizophrenia (Sc), and Social introversion (Si) (p < 0.001). A negative correlation (p < 0.001) was found between the Healthy Adult (HA) and Happy Child (HC) schema modes of the SMI and the Hypochondriasis (Hs), Depression (D), Psychopathic deviate (Pd), Psychasthenia (Pt), and Social introversion (Si) scales of MMPI.

Conclusion: This study demonstrates the presence of several dysfunctional schema modes in individuals with a wide range of clinical (psychiatric) disorders and a strong correlation between dysfunctional schema modes and clinical disorders of the MMPI. The SMI can aid in the assessment and understanding of individuals with a wide range of psychiatric disorders and can also form the basis for Schema Focused Therapy (SFT), a therapy showing promise for a number of clinical conditions, particularly borderline personality disorder.

A review of past and present psychological applications in tropical Hawaii in vignette format, including the appearance and disappearance of the MMPI as a section instrument, case histories of a parricide and his brother, senile pseudo-psychosis and an existential intervention, a forbidden island of culture suppression, and a 30-year follow-up of seasonal psychosis.

El propósito de este estudio era encontrar signos potenciales de vulnerabilidad genética a la esquizofrenia. Se evaluó las diferencias entre personas adoptadas con riesgo genético alto de esquizofrenia (cuya madre biológica tenía un trastorno del espectro de la esquizofrenia) y adoptados de control de madres biológicas sin trastorno del espectro de la esquizofrenia. Las comparaciones entre estos grupos se basaron en las puntuaciones de las subescalas del Inventario Multifásico de Personalidad de Minnesota (MMPI) ajustadas según el género, la edad en la evaluación del MMPI, la edad de la colocación en la familia adoptiva y la clase social. Los sujetos eran una submuestra de un total de 182 adoptados examinados y 136 adoptados mentalmente sanos en el Estudio de Familias Adoptivas Finlandesas. Se encontró que el grupo de alto riesgo era distinguible del grupo de bajo riesgo a partir de la desviación de las puntuaciones en las escalas de Hostilidad, Hipomanía y Sinceridad. Estas escalas pueden medir la vulnerabilidad genética y posiblemente también ser indicativas de una desviación psicométrica que prediga el comienzo futuro de la esquizofrenia.