Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Compensation seeking status and psychometric assessment of combat veterans seeking treatment for PTSD

  • Regular Articles
  • Published:
Journal of Traumatic Stress

Abstract

Examined differences between compensation seeking (CS) veterans and noncompensation seeking (NCS) veterans on the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) and other psychological measures in 142 combat veterans evaluated for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) at an outpatient Veterans Affairs (VA) hospital PTSD clinic. Patients were grouped on the basis of their compensation seeking status, with 69% classified as CS for PTSD. The CS veterans achieved significantly more pathological scores across a wide range of psychological inventories and MMPI-2 validity indices, although they did not differ in frequency of PTSD diagnoses from NCS veterans. Implications of these findings are discussed, and clinicians are advised to be aware of the compensation seeking status of combat-veterans being evaluated for PTSD.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • American Psychiatric Association (1987).Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (3rd ed., rev.). Washington, D.C.: Author.

    Google Scholar 

  • Atkinson, R. M., Henderson, R. G., Sparr, L. F., & Deale, S. (1982). Assessment of Vietnam veterans for posttraumatic stress disorder in veterans administration disability claims.American Journal of Psychiatry, 139, 1118–1121.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bagby, R. M., Rogers, R., Buis, T., & Kalemba, V. (1994). Malingered and defensive response styles on the MMPI-2: An examination of validity scales.Assessment, 1, 31–38.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Beck, A. T. (1978).Depression Inventory. Philadelphia, PA: Center for Cognitive Therapy.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beck, A. T., & Steer, R. A. (1987).BDI: Beck Depression Inventory: Manual. San Antonio: The Psychological Corporation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bernstein, E. M., & Putnam, F. W. (1986). Development, reliability, and validity of a dissociation scale.Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 174, 727–735.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Blake, D. D., Weathers, F. W., Nagy, L. N., Kaloupek, D. G., Klauminzer, G., Charney, D. S., & Keane, T. M. (1990). A clinician rating scale for assessing current and lifetime PTSD: The CAPS-1.The Behavior Therapist, 18, 187–188.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bremner, J. D., Southwick, S., Brett, E., Fontana, A., Rosenheck, R., & Charney, D. S. (1992). Dissociation and posttraumatic stress disorder in Vietnam combat veterans.American Journal of Psychiatry, 143(3), 328–332.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bremner, J. D., Steinberg, M., Southwick, S. M., Johnson, D. R., & Charney, D. S. (1993). Use of the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Dissociative Disorders for systematic assessment of dissociative symptoms in posttraumatic stress disorder.American Journal of Psychiatry, 150(7), 1011–1014.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Byrne, J. P., & Valdiserri, E. V. (1982). Psychotherapeutic issues in a Veterans Administration outpatient clinic.American Journal of Psychotherapy, 26, 547–553.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carlson, E. B., Putnam, F. W., Ross, C. A., Torem, M., Coons, P., Dill, D. L., Loewenstein, R. J., & Braun, B. G. (1993). Validity of the Dissociative Experiences Scale in screening for multiple personality disorder: A multicenter study.American Journal of Psychiatry, 150(7), 1030–1036.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Carson, R. C. (1969). Interpretive manual to the MMPI. In J. N. Butcher (Ed.),Research developments and clinical applications (pp. 279–296). New York: McGraw-Hill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fairbank, J. A., McCaffrey, R. J., & Keane, T. M. (1985). Psychometric detection of fabricated symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder.American Journal of Psychiatry, 142(4), 501–503.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Frueh, B. C., & Kinder, B. N. (1994). The susceptibility of the Rorschach Inkblot Test to malingering of combat related PTSD.Journal of Personality Assessment, 62(2), 280–298.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Frueh, B. C., Smith, D. W., & Libet, J. M. (1996). Racial differences on psychological measures in combat veterans seeking treatment for PTSD.Journals of Personality Assessment, 66 41–53.

    Google Scholar 

  • Graham, J. R. (1993).The MMPI-2: Assessing personality and psychopathology (2nd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Graham, J. R., Watts, D., & Timbrook, R. (1991). Detecting fake-good and fake-bad MMPI-2 profiles.Journal of Personality Assessment, 57, 264–277.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hathaway, S. R., & McKinley, J. C. (1967).Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory: Manual for administration and scoring. New York: Psychological Corporation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hathaway, S. R., & McKinley, J. C. (1989).MMPI-2: Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hyer, L., Boudewyns, P., Harrison, W. R., O'Leary, W. C., Bruno, R. D., Saucer, R. T., & Blount, J. B. (1988). Vietnam veterans: Overreporting versus acceptable reporting of symptoms.Journal of Personality Assessment, 52(3), 475–486.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hyer, L., Fallon, J. H., Jr., Harrison, W. R., & Boudewyns, P. A. (1987). MMPI overreporting by Vietnam combat veterans.Journal of Clinical Psychology, 43(1), 79–83.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hyer, L., O'Leary, W. C., Saucer, R. T., Blount, J., Harrison, W. R., & Boudewyns, P. A. (1986). Inpatient diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder.Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 54(5), 698–702.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hyer, L., Woods, M., Harrison, W. R., Boudewyns, P., & O'Leary, W. C. (1989). MMPI F-K index among hospitalized Vietnam veterans.Journal of Clinical Psychology, 45(2), 250–254.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jordan, R. G., Nunley, T. V., & Cook, R. R. (1992). Symptom exaggeration in a PTSD inpatient population: Response set or claim for compensation.Journal of Traumatic Stress, 5, 633–642.

    Google Scholar 

  • Keane, T. M., Caddell, J. M., & Taylor, K. L. (1988). Mississippi scale for combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder: Three studies in reliability and validity.Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 56, 85–90.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Keane, T. M., Malloy, P. F., & Fairbank, J. A. (1984). Empirical development of an MMPI subscale for the assessment of combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder.Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 52(5), 888–891.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Litz, B. T., Penk, W. E., Gerardi, R., & Keane, T. K. (1991). The assessment of post-traumatic stress disorder. In P. Saigh (Ed.),Posttraumatic stress disorder: A behavior approach to assessment and treatment (pp. 50–84). New York: Pergamon Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lynn, E. J., & Belza, M. (1984). Factitious posttraumatic stress disorder: The veteran who never got to Vietnam.Hospital and Community Psychiatry, 35, 697–701.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • McCormack, J. K., Patterson, T. W., Ohlde, C. D., Garfield, N. J., & Schauer, A. H. (1990). MMPI configural interpretation as applied to posttraumatic stress disorder in Vietnam veterans.Journal of Personality Assessment, 54(3 & 4), 628–638.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • McFall, M. E., Smith, D. E., Roszell, D. K., Tarver, D. J., & Malas, K. L. (1990). Convergent validity of measures of PTSD in Vietnam combat veterans.American Journal of Psychiatry, 147(5), 645–648.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Orr, S., Claiborn, J. M., Altman, B., Forgue, D. F., de Jong, J. B., Pitman, R. K., & Herz, L. R. (1990). Psychometric profile of posttraumatic stress disorder, anxious, and healthy Vietnam veterans: Correlations with psychophysiologic responses.Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 58, 329–335.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Quinn, S., Knight, J. A., Weathers, F., Keane, T. M., & Ireland, L. D. (1993, October).Effects of compensation-seeking status on MMPI profiles of veterans. Poster presented at the Ninth Annual Meeting of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, San Antonio, Texas.

  • Richman, H., Frueh, B. C., & Libet, J. M. (1994, November).Therapists' ratings of treatment modality efficacy for combat-related PTSD. Poster presented at the Tenth Annual Meeting of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, Chicago, IL.

  • Rothke, S. E., Friedman, A. F., Dahlstrom, W. G., Greene, R. L., Arredondo, R., & Mann, A. W. (1994). MMPI-2 normative data for the F-K index: Implications for clinical, neuropsychological, and forensic practice.Assessment, 1, 1–15.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Schneider, S. J. (1979). Disability payments for psychiatric patients: Is patient assessment affected?Journal of Clinical Psychology, 35, 259–264.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, D. W., & Frueh, B. C. (1996). Compensation seeking, comorbidity, and apparent exaggeration of PTSD symptoms among Vietnam combat veterans.Psychological Assessment, 8, 3–6

    Google Scholar 

  • Sparr, L., & Pankratz, L. D. (1983). Facitious posttraumatic stress disorder.American Journal of Psychiatry, 140, 1016–1019.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Spitzer, R. L., Williams, J. B., Gibbon, M., & First, M. B. (1990).Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R. Washington, D.C.: American Psychiatric Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weathers, F. W., & Litz, B. (1994). Psychometric properties of the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale, CAPS-1.PTSD Research Quarterly, 5, 2–6.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ralph H. Johnson Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Charleston, SC

    B. Christopher Frueh

  2. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Medical University of South Carolina, 29401, Charleston, South Carolina

    B. Christopher Frueh

  3. University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas

    Daniel W. Smith

  4. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Medical University of South Carolina, 29401, Charleston, South Carolina

    Susan E. Barker

Authors
  1. B. Christopher Frueh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Daniel W. Smith
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Susan E. Barker
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

About this article

Cite this article

Frueh, B.C., Smith, D.W. & Barker, S.E. Compensation seeking status and psychometric assessment of combat veterans seeking treatment for PTSD. J Trauma Stress 9, 427–439 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02103656

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02103656

Key words

Search

Navigation