Characteristics of alcohol use disorder patients based on MMPI-2 profile typology and comorbid disorder

Abstract

This study investigated the clinical characteristics of alcohol use disorder (AUD) patients using a typology based on the MMPI-2 to compare patients with and without comorbid disorders. A total of 244 patients with AUD at an alcohol specialty hospital were categorized into the two groups. The noncomorbid group (n = 142) had three profile types: a “normal profile type,” with normal-range scores on clinical scales; a “depressive and worried profile type,” with elevated clinical scales 2, 7, and 4; and a “mild psychological discomfort type,” with scores within the normal range on clinical scales and relatively low on defensiveness scales. The comorbid group (n = 102) had two profile types: a “mild psychopathological type,” with higher scores on infrequency scales and clinical scales 2, 4, 6, 7, and 8 and relatively lower defensiveness scale scores than type 2; and a “normal profile type” with all scale scores within the normal range. In both groups, the profile types were significantly differentiated on the Addiction Admission Scale (AAS) in the supplemental scales for substance abuse.

Keywords:

• Alcohol use disorder
• clinical characteristic
• comorbid disorder
• MMPI-2

Notes

1 The MMPI-2 clinical scales are referred to with their numbers (1—Hypochondriasis, 2—Depression, 3—Hysteria, 4—Psychopathic Deviate, 5—Masculinity/Femininity, 6—Paranoia, 7—Psychasthenia, 8—Schizophrenia, 9—Hypomania, and 0—Social Introversion. This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.