Abstract
The Millon Behavioral Health Inventory (MBHI) is one of only a few diagnostic instruments designed specifically for psychological evaluations of medical patients. However, despite being available for clinical use for several years, there are virtually no published research evaluations of this inventory. The present study evaluated the MBHI in light of Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) scores and treatment outcomes of 52 chronic pain patients. MBHI scales were highly correlated with admission and denial of psychopathology, as well as emotional distress, but had little relationship to Hsand Hyof the MMPI. The Pain Treatment Responsivity scale (PP),Allergic Inclination scale (MM),and MMPI Dscale predicted the outcome of pain treatment at comparable levels. The specificity of the MBHI scales seems questionable in that 10 of 19 intercorrelations betweenPPand other MBHI scales were between 0.70 and 0.86. A stepwise regression procedure did not select PPamong MBHI variables used to predict treatment outcomes. Results were interpreted as supporting cautious clinical use with pain patients until further research has been carried out.
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Portions of this study were presented at the meeting of the American Pain Society in Chicago, November 1983. Thanks are extended to Dr. Catherine Green, who kindly provided the latest MBHI BR scoring corrections currently used for computerized scoring and interpretation of the inventory.
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Sweet, J.J., Breuer, S.R., Hazlewood, L.A. et al. The millon behavioral health inventory: Concurrent and predictive validity in a pain treatment center. J Behav Med 8, 215–226 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00870309
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00870309