MMPI-2-RF Profiles of Treatment-Seeking Veterans in a VA Pain Clinic and Associations with Markers of Physical Performance

This study examined the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2-Restructured Form (MMPI-2-RF) in 144 Veterans (88.2% male, mean age  = 57.95 years) recruited from a VA outpatient pain clinic and associations with self-reported pain severity, pain-related interference in daily activities, prescription opioid use, and objective metrics of physical performance on tasks impacted by pain (walking, stair climbing, grip strength, indexed by a single latent variable). Among the cohort with valid responses on the MMPI-2-RF (n = 117) and probable PTSD, mean Somatic Complaints (RC1) and Ideas of Persecution (RC6) scores were clinically elevated. All MMPI-2-RF scales were more strongly correlated with self-reported pain interference than severity. Regressions revealed associations between self-rated pain interference ( but not pain or PTSD severity) and physical performance scores (β = .36,p = .001). MMPI-2-RF overreporting Validity and Higher-Order scales contributed incremental variance in predicting physical performance, including Infrequent Psychopathology Responses (β = .33,p = .002). PTSD severity was associated with prescription opioid use when accounting for the effects of over-reported somatic and cognitive symptoms (odds ratio 1.05,p ≤ .025). Results highlight the role of symptom overreporting and perceptions of functional impairment to observable behaviors among individuals with chronic pain.
Source: Journal of Clinical Psychology in Medical Settings - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research