I am a mental patient diagnosed tentatively as psychotic disorder not otherwise specified, but with such a non-specific diagnosis it's difficult to understand why I am the way I am, or come up with a strategy to cope with my illness. So I'm taking the mmpi 2 in hopes of being diagnosed more accurately. As some may know, the mmpi 2 is in a true/false format to 567 statements. I was told to answer true to statements that were mostly true about me, & false to statements that were mostly false about me. But my problem is that some of the statements are neither true or false, but in-between. The therapist giving me the test said if I wasn't sure about some statements to leave them blank, but I've left quite a few blank so far. So my question is, what do you do when the statement is neither true or false ? Leave it blank like the therapist said ? But wouldn't that throw the results off, or make it look like you're trying to be deceptive ?

Hi, deist!

The therapists need to do what they can in order to categorize people so that they can recommend what treatment to provide. No test is going to be perfect. But at least, they're something on which they can use to recommend a course of treatment because of the tests being now used on thousands of people over the years in the testing process.

That's how they are able to analyze things, because it has now been used on so many people.

What's going to really matter, is to be totally honest with your therapist. He or she will know more about who you really are because of the way that you act and answer questions, as well as how you interact with others, if you do happen to get into group therapy of some kind.

If you left certain questions blank, that's also going to help with making a diagnosis as to the best way to treat you.

They expect people to leave certain questions blank. It's part of the testing process.

I took the MMPI-2 many years ago when I was having a number of difficulties in my life.

Thanks!

The MMPI can't be scored with blank answers. The therpist was wrong when she said to leave answers blank.

If there are lots of blank answers, it cannot be scored.

BTW: I do agree with you. I've taken it 3x. The first could no be scored. The last had to be all filled in.

This widely used test considers a test invalid, if 30 or more questions are unanswered.

Not all psychiatric evaluation works for every individual.

Try your best to honestly answer as many questions as you can, and what you cannot answer, leave blank as you have been doing.

Here is a bit more information if you wish to read it, on other components that can give false or misleading results.

Validity Scales of the MMPI-2 (http://psychology.about.com/od/psychologicaltesting/a/mmpi_3.htm)

I would say when you meet with the therapist, allow them to guide you through the questions which you left blank.. when they ask your opinion about the question,they will sound their take on your response and decide,with you,how it should be answered.

At some points,I wouldn't be in the right frame of mind to answer questions and my counselor would ask me to simplify my thinking, asking me to not be too specific or try to be too analytical towards the questions.

As we went through this process,I discovered I was trying to be too perfect,too correct(as I wanted the testing to be as close to 'right' as I could make it), being a few steps back showed me that once committed to seeking help, the test was just another stepping stone towards the freedom of self.

Hope this helped,
Ken