The Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-III (MCMI-III) - Cross-Examining Psych Doctors, Tip #92

The Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-III (MCMI-III) is the most recently revised version of the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory devised by Dr. Theodore Millon, a specialist and pioneer in the area of Personality Disorders. The MCMI-III contains a variety of scales which include four validity scales.  The Debasement Scale is a validity scale that measures an individual’s “inclination to deprecate or devalue oneself by presenting more troublesome emotional and personal difficulties than are likely to be uncovered upon objective review.”  On the MCMI-III a BR score of 75 or more is sufficient to conclude that the individual was attempting to simulate symptoms, fake or malinger.  It also should be noted that when an individual is found to be attempting to fake that all further interpretation of the psychological meaning of their scores on the MCMI-III must cease and nothing further can be said about their psychological status beyond the fact that they were trying to appear to have symptoms that do not exist.