Guest guest Posted June 6, 2001 Report Share Posted June 6, 2001 This is appalling. This Macs Scale is, as I expected, not a true scale of the MMPI but one concocted from the genuine ones. Im not an expert on the MMPI, but what these questions are for is obvious in many cases. > #543: Several times a week I feel as if something dreadful is about to happen. > #494: I am afraid of finding myself in a closet or small closed place. > #365: I feel uneasy indoors. These clearly indicate ANXIETY, not self-pity. someone answering yes to these is may suffer from an anxiety disorder, clearly something that may be associated with alcohol/substance abuse, but NOT " self pity " . The latter two suggest claustrophobia, a very common phobia which has nothing at all to do with self pity. > #202: I believe I am a condemned person. > #484: I have one or more faults which are so big that it seems better to accept them and try to control them rather than to try to get rid of them. These I suggest indicate DEPRESSION, again a mood disorder that may well be associated w alcohol/drug problems. Ironically, imo the latter response might actually be a healthy one in some respects (but then Im a depressive) but such compromising notions are hardly in keeping with steppist authoritarianism. > #157: I feel that I have often been punished without cause. > #338: I have certainly had more than my share of things to worry >about. Again possibly indicative of depression an anxiety, though possibly indicative of other problems - it is impossible to say without knowing the person in a larger context. I suspect that the psychologically respectable MMPI itself has many serious drawbacks, one of which is that someone who answers Yes to 157 might be narcissistic or sociopathic and not understand puniushmesnt which they genuinely dererved, OR might be somneone severely abused as a child who REALLY WAS punished indeservedly - and in fact, realizng this might actually have been a consoiderable step forward in their recovery! Without knowing the context, it is impossible to say. > #469: I have often found people jealous of my good ideas, just because they had not thought of them first. > #331: If people had not had it in for me I would have been much more successful. > #507: I have frequently worked under people who seem to have things arranged so that they get credit for good work but are able to pass of mistakes onto those under them. Again these might indicate a narcisstic or sociopathic personality (which I suspect was the original intended purpose of the questions) but it is possible that a person might genuinely have experienced these circumstances. Again too these questions might be influenced by depression. > Mac sums up the information provided by the SAP scale: > > From a remedial perspective it would seem, . . . that when this sort >of mordant self-absorption is detected, `treatment' might profitably >focus upon its radical transformation. Or more appropriately, attend to the mood disorders that these unfortunate people have! P. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 7, 2001 Report Share Posted June 7, 2001 I don't know about AA but NA does not feel(in my opinion) all addicts have the same defects of character which cause a disease. They feel all addicts have the same disease, which manifests itself in similar symptoms. The disease or syndrome of addiction aggravates character defects and magnifies them.Mike. Re: Re: MMPI Results for AAs Ken, this is fascinating. Let me answer all of these questions as I would have answered them on March 26, 1997, and then as I would have answered them on March 26, 1998. Then, I wish to explore if this means I fit the alcoholic "self-pity" profile, or something else entirely. #543: Several times a week I feel as if something dreadful is about to happen. #494: I am afraid of finding myself in a closet or small closed place. #365: I feel uneasy indoors.1997: No, no, no. 1998: emphatic yes, no, no int about alcoholics. They can lie. #202: I believe I am a condemned person. #484: I have one or more faults which are so big that it seems better to accept them and try to control them rather than to try to get rid of them. 1997: fucking no way, yes 1998: yes, yes #157: I feel that I have often been punished without cause. #338: I have certainly had more than my share of things to worry about. 1997: no, no 1998: yes, yes #469: I have often found people jealous of my good ideas, just because they had not thought of them first. #331: If people had not had it in for me I would have been much more successful. #507: I have frequently worked under people who seem to have things arranged so that they get credit for good work but are able to pass of mistakes onto those under them.1997: no, no, no 1998: no, yes, no The day after March 26, 1997, my oldest son was killed in a car accident. My husband and I spent the next three days discussing with medical examiners and morticians whether the body was too mutilated for an open casket -- just barely, it was open, and it was entirely obvious what the concerns had been. Two months later, my husband of 21 years, nuts with grief, left me to live a partying lifestyle as a bisexual. By the end of that year the dearest friend I have ever had, had asked me to relocate to Manhattan where I knew no one else, and join him as a partner in his law firm. However, he found my grief off-putting and, as is not uncommon for newly bereaved parents to experience with friends who cannot handle it, he abandoned me from virtually the moment I stepped off the plane. My 18-year-old surviving son was supposed to have come with me so I wouldn't be going to NYC alone, but then announced, three months after his brother died, that his 15-year-old girlfriend was pregnant and having the baby, so he was staying with her. I went insane. Everyone I loved was suddenly either dying, or leaving me voluntarily, and my remaining son was trapping himself in teenage parenthood. And I was alone in this big strange city where the only person I knew was completely unwilling to spend time in my presence, beyond that absolutely necessary at the office, where he radiated cold discomfort becasue I was Mother of the Dead. From being a happy, self-confident and spunky woman who didn't take crap from anyone, I went to being a listless, frightened and morose drone. And drink? Beginning at that point, like a friggin' fiend. Is anyone going to seriously tell me that if I felt condemned and that I was suddenly being punished, there was not adequate pressure brought to bear to render such feelings understandable? Did I not have an alcoholic personality one day, and then had developed it by a year later? Did I really need to have my ego deflated? <pffft> AA believes all drunks follow essentially the same drinking trajectory, and have the same defects of character that cause this "disease." They are as wrong as they can be. --Mona-- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 7, 2001 Report Share Posted June 7, 2001 If I remember correctly, my IQ was measured at 126 when I was 12 years old. Mike. Re: MMPI Results for AAs > This reminds me of something I've wondered about for a long time. I > also took the MMPI in treatment, as well as an IQ test. They never > told me what my IQ score was. Their reasoning for this was that, as a > person suffering from an eating disorder, I was naturally a > perfectionist and would not be happy if my score was not " perfect " . > This seemed ridiculous to me, of course, even back then. I would have > been happy with " smart enough " . It was thin I was worried about. > > Anyway, I've always wondered about what happened to those scores and > any records they would have kept on me while in treatment. This was > 15 years ago. Do they still exist somewhere, and, if so, do I have a > right to see them? Does anyone know how long this stuff stays around? > Surely they can't hang onto the records of every single person who > goes through a 28 day program forever. > > I'm concerned primarily because, as I have mentioned before, I was > admitted as an alcoholic because my insurance did not cover bulimia. > Even though I went on later in life to (perhaps) fit some description > of this, I certainly did not at 18, and I am curious to know if a > record still exists saying I was a teenaged drunk. Plus, I'd like to > see that IQ score. > > Joan > > > > > > > My rehab gave the MMPI too. My score? Absolutely normal. > > > Everything > > > > within normal boundaries. A little high on the paranoia scale, > > but > > > > nevertheless, not over the normal range, and they conceded that > > that > > > > was pretty typical for lawyers (always envisioning the worst > case > > > > scenario). > > > > > > > > I doubt they've stopped, but the large question is, why did > they > > do > > > it > > > > in the first place? Everybody got exactly the same treatment. > > > Maybe > > > > it was just $$$$$. > > > > > > Hi Kayleigh, > > > > > > I think the thing is mainly a CYA, like the way they have you > > screened > > > once by a shrink and a psychologist (they did at my place, which > > seems > > > to be SOP) in case they might otherwise miss something that could > > get > > > them sued. Ive heard that slightly elevated paranoia is > correlated > > > with being a good lawyer. I quipped with Peele about it but if > he > > > found it funny he didnt say so. My bro always said I should have > > been > > > a lawyer, and I guess Ive got the paranois for it. > > > > > > P. > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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