The British Journal of Psychiatry 132: 574-579 (1978)
© 1978 The Royal College of Psychiatrists
Early parent death and the clinical scales of the MMPI
J Birtchnell
There is growing evidence that early parent death can affect the severity
of adult depressive illness. It was anticipated, therefore, that
early-bereaved depressed patients might score higher on certain MMPI
clinical scales than non-bereaved, depressed controls matched for age and
sex. This is shown to be the case, the most affected scales being
Hypochondriasis and Paranoia. Hypochondriasis is shown to be more strongly
associated with early father death, while Paranoia is associated equally
with mother and father death. There is some suggestion that early mother
death is also associated with elevation of the F score. Early parent death
is shown to have no effect upon the MMPI scores of non-depressed patients.