The use of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 in the psychological assessment of persons with TBI: Correction factors and other clinical caveats and conundrums

The MMPI-2 serves an integral role in a comprehensive psychological evaluation of persons with traumatic brain injury because it provides clinically relevant information regarding the presence of psychiatric illness, adaptation to the injury, and potential interpersonal strengths or liabilities that may impact the rehabilitative process. Importantly, the MMPI-2 provides critical information regarding the accuracy of patient self-report and the tendency to either exaggerate or minimize symptoms. However, the MMPI-2 contains items that are directly related to the cognitive sequalae of brain injury. As a result, concerns have been raised regarding the appropriateness of the MMPI-2 for use with brain injured patients. We discuss evidence that supports the use of the MMPI-2 with brain-injured patients and the concerns over the applicability of the MMPI-2 in this population. Further, we critically discuss recently proposed strategies to correct the MMPI-2 for neurologically related items (NRI) in brain injured populations in terms of the clinical application of such procedures, the benefits and limitations of such procedures, and the need for further refinement and validation of these correction factors.