Abstracts

Rationale: Personality assessment is a routine part of neuropsychological evaluation of patients in an Epilepsy Monitoring Unit (EMU) setting and the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) is one of the most well studied assessment instruments. The MMPI-2 Clinical Scales were restructured and became available for use in 2003. In 2008, a restructuring of the entire MMPI-2, called the MMPI-2-Restructured Form (MMPI-2-RF) became available. The purpose of these projects was to increase the psychometric reliability of the MMPI-2 by removing heterogeneity from individual scales and eliminating overlap between scales. This has the potential to greatly improve the instrument, but has resulted in significant change to the measure such than new research is necessary. We have provided preliminary data on the MMPI-2 restructured Clinical Scales (Locke et al. 2009) as well as the entire MMPI-2-RF (Osborne et al. 2009) in small samples of EMU patients. The primary aim of this project is to provide further information on the MMPI-2 restructured clinical scales and the entire MMPI-2-RF in an EMU population. Methods: Since 2001, patients have routinely completed the MMPI-2 as part of their neuropsychological evaluation in Mayo Clinic Arizona’s EMU. The MMPI-2-RF, including the restructured Clinical Scales, can be calculated from an existing MMPI-2 protocol. From April of 2001 to April of 2009 we have over 400 MMPI-2 protocols from patients with a confirmed discharge diagnosis of epilepsy or psychogenic non-epileptic seizures (PNES). This poster presents data on the portion of that sample on which the MMPI-2-RF has been calculated to date (ES=53; PNES=72). Calculation of the MMPI-2-RF profile on the remaining patients is ongoing. Results: There were no differences between groups on age, education, or gender distribution. 7 MMPI-2 profiles and 9 MMPI-2-RF profiles were excluded due to invalid profiles indicative of random responding. Significant mean differences were found between groups on the MMPI-2 Fb, FBS, 1 (Hs), 3 (Hy), and 8 (Sc), with PNES patients scoring higher than ES patients. On the MMPI-2-RF, significant differences were found between groups on F, FBS, RC1, RC3, MLS, HPC, NUC, and SAV. The PNES group was higher than the ES group on all scales except the RC3 scale, on which the PNES group was lower than the ES group. Conclusions: There appear to be significant differences between ES and PNES groups on the MMPI-2-RF. The most likely scale with differential diagnosis utility is RC1, with perhaps some added benefit from the Somatic Scales (MLS, HPC, NUC).