The Development of a Substance Abuse Treatment Program for Forensic Patients With Cognitive Impairment

The Substance Abuse and Mental Illness (SAMI) program combines cognitive rehabilitation and dual‐diagnosis substance abuse treatment within a stages of change context. This article describes the development, implementation, and preliminary outcome analysis of the SAMI program in a forensic hospital.     

Using Force: Australian Newspaper Depictions of Contacts Between the Police and Persons Experiencing Mental Illness

The media creates and sustains knowledge about socially relevant issues such as crime, mental illness, and policing. Past research suggests that while the media portrayal of the police is undoubtedly complex, their portrayal of people experiencing mental illness remains mainly negative. The depiction of their encounters in the mass media is of considerable interest because of the influential role the media has on public opinion and debate; however, there is a lack of current research in this area. This study aimed to examine media items in the major newspapers across Australia between January 2006 and December 2007 (n = 77) to investigate their portrayal of this interface. The dominant themes encountered in the initial analysis depicted people experiencing mental illness as dangerous and a threat to the public, where the mental health system has failed to manage them adequately. Further analyses found that people experiencing mental illness were stigmatised in a third of the media items reviewed and were represented significantly more negatively in these encounters than the police. Implications of these findings and some suggestions regarding possible strategies that could improve socially responsible media reporting and public discourse on mental illness are proposed.     

The utility of MMPI-2 suicide items for assessing suicidal potential: development of a Suicidal Potential Scale

The assessment of suicidal potential is one of the most challenging and stress-inducing tasks facing clinicians. Studies that have attempted to identify specific MMPI codetypes, scales, or individual items predictive of completed suicide have produced inconsistent findings. This study focused on the relationship between the six most direct MMPI-2 suicide items (Items 150, 303, 506, 520, 524, and 530) and verbally reported history of suicidal ideation and behavior among a sample of psychotherapy outpatients (n =116). These six MMPI-2 suicide items provided valuable information regarding suicidal ideation and behavior above and beyond that of verbal self-report. These items were grouped together to create a single scale, the Suicidal Potential Scale (SPS) that manifested strong internal consistency. The SPS provides the clinician with a reliable method of assessing for self-reported suicidal ideation and behavior.     

熟悉性对外群体同质性效应的影响

两个实验考查了年龄和性别群体中是否存在外群体同质性效应以及熟悉性对该种效应的影响。结果表明：1．年龄群体中存在明显的外群体同质性效应,这与青年群体和老年群体彼此不够熟悉有关;2．性别群体中不存在外群体同质性效应,这与青年男女群体彼此较为熟悉有关。     

Psychological functioning in siblings of children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

We examined psychological functioning in siblings of children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Siblings of children diagnosed with ADHD (n = 45) between the ages of 9 and 13 and a control group (n = 46) within the same age range composed of siblings of children with no diagnosed disorders completed measures of psychological functioning. A significant multivariate difference was observed on these measures across groups. Post hoc investigation of the univariate means revealed one significant group difference, which occurred on a measure of Trait Anger. This finding suggests that future research on family members of children with ADHD may be warranted.     

Mapping the MMPI–2–RF Substantive Scales Onto Internalizing,Externalizing, and Thought Dysfunction Dimensions in a Forensic Inpatient Setting

Contemporary models of psychopathology—encompassing internalizing, externalizing, and thought dysfunction factors—have gained significant support. Although research indicates the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory–2 Restructured Form (MMPI–2–RF; Ben-Porath &; Tellegen, 2008 Tellegen, A., &; Waller, N. G. (2008). Exploring personality through test construction: Development of the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire. In G. J. Boyle, G. Matthews, &; D. H. Saklofske (Eds.), Handbook of personality theory and testing: Vol. II. Personality measurement and assessment (pp. 261–292). Greenwich, CT: JAI.[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]/2011) measures these domains of psychopathology, this study addresses extant limitations in MMPI–2–RF diagnostic validity research by examining associations between all MMPI–2–RF substantive scales and broad dichotomous indicators of internalizing, externalizing, and thought dysfunction diagnoses in a sample of 1,110 forensic inpatients. Comparing those with and without internalizing diagnoses, notable effects were observed for Negative Emotionality/Neuroticism–Revised (NEGE-r), Emotional/Internalizing Dysfunction (EID), Dysfunctional Negative Emotions (RC7), Demoralization (RCd), and several other internalizing and somatic/cognitive scales. Comparing those with and without thought dysfunction diagnoses, the largest hypothesized differences occurred for Thought Dysfunction (THD), Aberrant Experiences (RC8), and Psychoticism–Revised (PSYC-r), although unanticipated differences were observed on internalizing and interpersonal scales, likely reflecting the high prevalence of internalizing dysfunction in forensic inpatients not experiencing thought dysfunction. Comparing those with and without externalizing diagnoses, the largest effects were for Substance Abuse (SUB), Antisocial Behavior (RC4), Behavioral/Externalizing Dysfunction (BXD), Juvenile Conduct Problems (JCP), and Disconstraint–Revised (DISC-r). Multivariate models evidenced similar results. Findings support the construct validity of MMPI–2–RF scales as measures of internalizing, thought, and externalizing dysfunction.     

Sensitivity and specificity of MMPI-2 neurologic correction factors: receiver operating characteristic analysis

A number of Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) items have been hypothesized to reflect neurologic symptomatology, rather than psychopathology, among closed-head-injury (CHI) patients. Some investigators have proposed a correction factor interpretive approach, which involves the deletion of such items from the MMPI-2 profile, as a method of reducing the probability of artificial clinical scale elevations due to the symptoms of CHI. The present study employed receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis to evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of three correction factors. All three factors demonstrated strong sensitivity when discriminating CHI patients from normal individuals but demonstrated poor specificity when discriminating CHI patients from psychiatric patients. These findings suggest that caution should be applied in using MMPI-2 neurologic correction factors, particularly with patients who might have comorbid psychiatric conditions.     

Evaluating the latent structure of the MMPI-2 F(p) scale in a forensic sample: a taxometric analysis

P. A. Arbisi and Y. S. Ben-Porath (1995) originally proposed that the Infrequency Psychopathology scale, F(p), be used as the final step in an algorithm to determine the validity of a Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) protocol. The current study used taxometric procedures to determine the latent structure of F(p) among examinees with profiles that would necessitate the interpretation of F(p) when using Arbisi and Ben-Porath's proposed algorithm. Participants included a subsample of 289 consecutively referred pretrial forensic examinees adjudicated incompetent to stand trial with high Infrequency (F) scale scores, thereby providing a sample that would be expected to have a high base rate of persons with bona fide psychopathology and persons with incentive to overreport psychopathology. Using MAMBAC and MAXEIG, F(p) produced a taxonic latent structure within the subgroup of examinees who obtained raw scores on F of greater than 17. These results support Arbisi and Ben-Porath's original proposal to use F(p) to identify a distinct subgroup of overreported MMPI-2 protocols within forensic psychiatric examinees with high elevations on F. Implications and suggestions for future research are provided.