The clinical utility of the millon clinical multiaxial inventory depression subscales

Abstract

The present study was an evaluation of the clinical utility of the Psychotic Depression and Dysthymic subscales of the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory (MCMI-I; Millon, WX3). It was found that these scales could effectively discriminate 25 patients with DSM-III-R diagnoses of affective disorder from 25 patients with DSM-III-R diagnoses of schizophrenia. Both scales had moderate convergent validity with the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). The Dysthymic subscale was a good predictor of DSM-III-R depression and exhibited sound operating characteristics. In contrast, the Psychotic Depression subscale diagnosed few of the depressed patients correctly and had poor operating characteristics. The Dysthymic subscale also appeared to be measuring a similar construct to that of the Anxiety subscale, and the psychotic subscales (Psychotic Delusions and Psychotic Thinking) were found to be inadequate detectors of schizophrenia. The implications for the future development of MCMI-1 are discussed.