The MMPI F(P) Scale - Cross-Examining Psych Doctors, Tip #99

     The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) is the gold standard of psychological test batteries used for medical-legal purposes.  The MMPI-2 is the 1989 revision of the original MMPI that dates back more than 70 years and has many proponents who depend on the test’s validity scales to provide information about the individual’s test-taking attitudes and credibility.  The MMPI-2 is also the most commonly used version of the MMPI by psychologists and psychiatrists.  With regard to the MMPI-2, every validity and clinical scale performance is described with a T-Score.  All T-Scores on the validity scales and the clinical scales on the MMPI-2 have a mean of 50 and a standard deviation of 10. In this regard, it should be noted that it is well known and universally accepted that T-Scores of 65 or larger are clinically significant or interpretable. In this regard, the F(P) Scale is one of the validity scales of the MMPI-2. Scores 65 or higher on the F(P) Scale are characteristic of individuals who are “overreporting psychopathology” and attempting to portray themselves as having symptoms that do not exist.