Citation

Elhai JD, Frueh BC, Gold PB, Gold SN, Hamner MB. J. Nerv. Ment. Dis. 2000; 188(10): 708-713.

Affiliation

Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Medical University of South Carolina, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2000, Lippincott Williams and Wilkins)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

11048821

Abstract

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.

Language: en