The MMPI-2 in Psychological Treatment

by James N. Butcher

Psychological treatment--using psychodynamic, behavioral, or any other approach--is most successful when both the therapist and client have a clear understanding of the client's problems, weaknesses, resources, and strengths. In this book, James Butcher, a member of the team that developed
the new Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory test (MMPI-2), focuses on how the MMPI-2 can provide objective information to both the client and clinician, and how this information can be used in treatment planning and selection. By using the MMPI, the most widely researched and most
frequently administered clinical assessment tool, the clinician can provide objective feedback both before treatment begins, as a baseline, and as treatment progresses. The book begins with a descriptive overview of the MMPI-2 and a summary of the empirical correlates underlying the validity of the
test and its clinical scales. Dr. Butcher summarizes available treatment-related information that can be obtained from the clinical scales and brings together in one chapter what is known about the use of the traditional MMPI scales in treatment evaluation. Since several MMPI-2 content scales have
been found useful for treatment evaluation, these are described in detail. The book will also include several MMPI-2 "special scales," such as Es and Mac-R , which have been found useful in providing specific information about the client's present self-orientation. Dr. Butcher presents a procedure
with which to provide test feedback to clients and illustrates this method with several clinical examples. He also discusses the role of computerized psychological interpretation in providing personality descriptions, which can be effectively used in therapy feedback sessions.

208 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

James N Butcher is Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the University of Minnesota. Dr. Butcher received his graduate training at the University of North Carolina and served on the faculty of the University of Minnesota for over 40 years. He has written more than 50 books and 175 articles on the MMPI®, MMPI®-2, and MMPI-A, including Essentials of MMPI-2 and MMPI-A Interpretation (with Dr Carolyn Williams), published in 2000 by the University of Minnesota Press. He was instrumental in identifying the need for a revision of the MMPI, which resulted in the MMPI Restandardization Project conducted during the 1980s and 1990s.

More recently, Dr. Butcher co-authored two books published by the American Psychological Association: Assessing Hispanic Clients Using the MMPI-2 and MMPI-A (with Jose Cabiya, Emilia Lucio and Maria Garrido, 2007) and the third edition of The MMPI/MMPI-2/MMPI-A in Court (with Ken Pope and Joyce Seelen, 2006). Butcher and 25 colleagues from around the world used the Adolescent Interpretive System of the Minnesota Report to develop International Case Studies on the MMPI-A: An Objective Approach. This casebook illustrates the use of the Minnesota Report with adolescents in 15 countries outside the United States.