The MMPI-2-RF in Practice DVD

With David M. McCord, PhD
Hosted by Kathleen T. Bechtold, PhD

Format: DVD [Closed Captioned]

Running Time: approximately 60 minutes

ORDER CODE: APA-4310967

Copyright: 2017

 
The MMPI-2-RF, the latest revision to the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, is one of the most widely researched and used psychological assessment instruments.

The MMPI-2-RF conceptualizes personality and psychopathology as a hierarchical arrangement of relatively narrow, focused, dimensional constructs. By comprehensively measuring 50–60 clinically relevant characteristics to describe the individual, the MMPI-2-RF both reflects and contributes to a historic paradigm shift in terms of how personalities and psychopathologies are rendered: Rather than trying to fit clients into specific diagnostic categories or label them with disorders, the MMPI-2-RF describes the individual as clearly and coherently as possible.

In this video, Dr. David M. McCord demonstrates how to administer the MMPI-2-RF while addressing a client's questions and concerns both compassionately and without divulging information that would influence the outcome of the assessment.

Approach
The MMPI-2-RF both reflects and contributes to a historic paradigm shift in the way we think about personality and psychopathology. Very briefly, the old paradigm was based on "disorders" represented as discrete categorical syndromes that were both very heterogeneous internally and heavily overlapping with other syndromes.

The DSM and ICD operationalize the old paradigm. The new paradigm re-conceptualizes personality and psychopathology as a hierarchical arrangement of relatively narrow, focused, dimensional constructs, as continua rather than taxa. The NIMH Research Domain Criteria project reflects this new paradigm, as do a number of relatively similar "five-factor" models of personality and psychopathology.

The MMPI-2-RF is very clearly associated with the new paradigm. From this perspective, clinical assessment does not focus on placing an individual into a diagnostic category; rather, the goal is to comprehensively measure 50–60 clinically relevant characteristics, to describe the individual as clearly and coherently as possible, and to recommend empirically supported interventions based on the characteristics found.