The utility of the MCMI as a DSM-III axis I diagnostic tool

✍ Scribed by D. P. Bonato; J. J. Cyr; R. A. Kalpin; P. Prendergast; P. Sanhueza

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1988
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 569 KB
• Volume: 44
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0021-9762
• DOI: 10.1002/1097-4679(198811)44:6<867::aid-jclp2270440606>3.0.co;2-p

✦ Synopsis

The present study examined the utility of the MCMI as a provider of DSM-III Axis I diagnostic hypotheses with a heterogeneous psychiatric inpatient population. Participants represented 31 consecutive referrals made to the psychology department for a clinical and/or diagnostic assessment from a psychiatric rehabilitation unit. Three independent diagnoses derived from the MCMI, a structured interview (DIS), and an unstructured psychiatric interview were obtained for each participant. The percentage agreement between the two criterion diagnoses was 54.8%. Agreement between the MCMI and criterion diagnoses was, at best, 15% for those cases that had an Axis I diagnosis. These findings are in keeping with past research and support the contention that the MCMI is not a useful tool in generating clinically correct or meaningful DSM-III Axis I diagnostic hypotheses.