MINNESOTA MULTI-DISPECTIVE. Personality Inventory (MMPI)

The personality questionnaire was proposed by S. Hathway and J. McKinley in 1940. It is an implementation of the typological approach to the study of personality and occupies a leading place among other personality questionnaires in psychodiagnostic research.

The questionnaire consists of 550 statements forming 10 main diagnostic scales. For each statement, respondents must give a specific answer. Intended for persons aged 16 years and older with an IQ of at least 80 (according to Wechsler).

There are two modifications of MMPI currently in use.

SMIL (standard methodology for personality research - Sobchik L.N., Lukyanova M.F., 1978). Includes 566 questions (550 original and 16 duplicates). Makes it possible to diagnose 10 main and up to 200 additional scales. The technique is closest to the international standard MMPI, but is cumbersome and in itself has a strong impact on the subject in the manner of an “examination of mental disorders.”

MMIL (Berezin F.B. et al., 1976). Includes 377 questions and makes it possible to reliably diagnose 10 main scales. For this modification, a more significant amount of work on psychometric adaptation has been carried out. Modification MMIL presented below.

Theoretical background

Own theoretical basis MMPI does not have. To compile statements, the authors used patient complaints, descriptions of the symptoms of certain mental illnesses in clinical guidelines (classification of mental illnesses proposed by E. Kraepelin), and previously developed questionnaires. The statements were initially presented to a large group of healthy people, allowing their normative values ​​to be determined. These indicators were then compared with those obtained from various clinical groups. Thus, statements were selected that reliably differentiated healthy people from each of the studied groups of patients. These statements were combined into scales named according to the clinical group for which the scale was validated.

At the same time, one cannot help but dwell on a number of comments regarding the MMPI.

The original MMPI clinical scales were based on traditional psychiatric classifications, which, although popular, rest on questionable theoretical foundations. The artificiality of these categories has caused concern in clinical psychology for a long time. Therefore it is characteristic that factor analysis, based on intercorrelations between questions and scales, shows high intercorrelations among the core clinical scales of the MMPI, calling into question their value for differential diagnosis.

The MMPI, therefore, does not provide a nosological diagnostic assessment. The personality profile obtained during research using this technique characterizes only the characteristics of the individual at the time of the study. Therefore it cannot be assessed as a "diagnostic label". However, the characteristics of the patient’s personal properties obtained from such a study significantly complement the picture of the pathopsychological register syndrome.

Validity and reliability data

The validity of the MMPI, established on the basis of differentiation of clinical groups, is quite high. Test-retest reliability ranges from 0.50 to 0.90. Split-half reliabilities showed wide variability from scale to scale, ranging from 0.50 to 0.81.

Description of the technique

MMIL (a multifaceted personality study technique is a questionnaire-type test that includes 384 statements covering a wide range of personal characteristics, attitudes, interests, psychopathological and psychosomatic symptoms. Statements can be presented either on cards or in the form of a text brochure. The first presentation option usually used in individual research, the second in group research.In the brochure version, the number of statements is reduced to 377 at the expense of statements relating to sexual issues (in a mass study, such statements cause unwanted tension).

Below are the main clinical scales.

1. Hypochondria scale (Hs) - determines the “closeness” of the subject to the astheno-neurotic personality type.

2. Depression scale (p) - designed to determine the degree of subjective depression, moral discomfort (hypothymic personality type).

3. Hysteria Scale (Hu) - designed to identify individuals prone to neurotic reactions of the conversion type (using symptoms of a physical illness to resolve difficult situations).

4. Psychopathy Scale (Pd) - aimed at diagnosis
sociopathic personality type.

6. Paranoia scale (Ra) - allows you to judge the presence of “extra valuable” ideas and suspicion.

7. Psychasthenia scale (Pt) - the similarity of the subject with patients suffering from phobias, obsessive actions and thoughts (anxious-suspicious personality type) is established.

8. Schizophrenia scale (Sc) - aimed at diagnosing schizoid (autistic) personality type.

9. Hypomania scale (Ma) - determines the degree of closeness of the subject to the hyperthymic personality type.

Along with the scales identified on the basis of a study of typical groups of patients, the test includes two scales, the validation of which was carried out in a study of healthy individuals.

5. The masculinity-femininity scale (Mf) is designed to measure the degree of identification of the subject with the role of a man or woman assigned by society.

0. Social introversion scale (Si) - diagnostics of the degree of compliance with the introverted personality type.

In addition to the listed main test scales, there are three rating scales that allow you to minimize the installation effect and determine the reliability of the result obtained.

1. “Lie” scale (L) - designed to assess the sincerity of the subject.

2. Reliability scale (F) - created to identify unreliable results (associated with the negligence of the subject), as well as aggravation and simulation.

3. Correction scale (K) - introduced in order to smooth out distortions introduced by the subject’s excessive isolation, as well as excessive openness.

Conducting a survey

The subject is told that he must answer whether each of the 377 statements is true or false. The answer is marked by crossing out the square to the right or left of the statement number. If the statement is found to be true, the square to the left of the number (under the letter “B”) is crossed out, if incorrect, the square to the right (under the letter “H”) is crossed out. The answer “I don’t know” is not marked in any way.

The researcher reports that the first reaction is the most natural and therefore you need to answer immediately, so as not to waste time thinking. If this condition is met, the subject responds to 4-7 statements per minute, and completion of the technique takes from 55 minutes to 1 hour 15 minutes.

Some statements included in the test may cause confusion among subjects due to the fact that they relate to severe painful phenomena or situations that are difficult for the subject to attribute to himself. In this case, they should be informed that the set of statements is the same for the study of different populations, and mechanical processing of the results does not allow excluding any statements, because changing the approval number will inevitably cause errors in decoding. If the subject seeks advice regarding a specific statement and his own attitude towards it, the researcher should not suggest or explain the meaning of the statement, but indicate that one must be guided by one’s own understanding of the statement, or recall the corresponding point of the instructions. The researcher should not comment on the question, express attitudes towards it in words, facial expressions or intonation. If difficulties arise, it is useful to discuss with the subject 2-3 statements that are indifferent in content to make sure that he correctly understood the instructions.

Processing the results

The results are processed using special key tablets. Each scale has its own tablet. For scale 5 there are two tablets, separate for men and women. Using tablets, the primary result for each scale is calculated. The answer that matches the “key” is worth 1 point. The result obtained on the K scale, or a certain proportion of it, is added to the primary result on some scales: to the 1st scale - 0.5; to the 4th - 0.4; to the 9th - 0.2 of this result, and to the 7th and 8th scales - it is added in full. Taking into account the correction, the value of the result on each scale is noted on a special map compiled on the basis of the population standard. The lines connecting these points are drawn separately for the rating and basic scales and form the profile of the methodology for multilateral personality research.

The map is designed in such a way that once a profile is plotted on it, it is scored in T-scores. If rating scales produce results greater than 70 T-scores, the result obtained is questionable, and if they exceed 80 T-scores, the result is unreliable. In this case, the technique is presented again. It is better to repeat the technique on the same or the next day. If the result is reliable, the resulting profile is interpreted.

Basics of interpretation of the methodology for multilateral personality research

The information about the meaning of various profile types, which is given below, does not exhaust the variety of possible options, but they can be used as a guide when working with the technique. A systematic presentation of this information is especially useful for researchers beginning to work with the described methodology, since it allows them to quickly acquire the necessary interpretation experience.

The basic rules for assessing a profile, the violation of which most often leads to erroneous interpretation, can be formulated as follows.

1. The profile should be assessed as a whole, and not as a set of independent scales. The results obtained on one of the scales cannot be assessed in isolation from the results on other scales.

2. When assessing a profile, the most important thing is the ratio of the profile level on each scale to the average profile level and especially in relation to neighboring scales (profile peaks). The absolute value of the T-norm on one scale or another is less significant.

3. The profile characterizes the personality characteristics and current mental state of the subject. In clinical practice, it reflects the characteristics of the psychopathological syndrome, and not the nosological affiliation of the disease. Therefore the profile cannot be assessed as a "diagnostic label".

4. The results obtained cannot be considered as unshakable, since the connection of the profile with the current mental state determines its dynamics with changes in this state.

5. Interpretation of individual profiles requires consideration
the entire body of data that cannot be pre-existing
are provided in connection with the already noted variety of individual options. Therefore, literature data containing a description of typical profiles can only be used to master the basic principles of interpretation, and not as ready-made recipes. Trying to use a set of ready-made recipes can lead to significant errors in assessing the results of the study. For example, the same profile obtained in the study of a practically healthy person and an inpatient with severe clinical symptoms will have different meanings.

Rating scales

Rating scales were introduced into the original version of the text in order to study the subject’s attitude towards testing and judge the reliability of the study results. However, subsequent study made it possible to establish that these scales also have significant psychological correlates.

L scale

The statements included in the L scale were selected to identify the subject's tendency to present himself in the most favorable light possible, demonstrating strict adherence to social norms.

The scale consists of 15 statements that relate to socially approved, but unimportant attitudes and norms of everyday behavior, which, due to their low significance, are actually ignored by the vast majority of people. Thus, an increase in the result on the L scale usually indicates the desire of the subject to look in a favorable light. This desire may be situationally determined, due to the subject’s limited horizons, or caused by the presence of pathology. However, it must be borne in mind that some people tend to punctually follow the established standard, always observing any rules, even the most insignificant and not of significant value. In these cases, an increase in the result on the L scale reflects the specified character traits. Belonging to a professional group, from which, due to its specificity, an extremely high standard of behavior and punctual adherence to conventional norms is required, also contributes to an increase in the result on the L scale. This kind of high standard of behavior can be observed, in particular, among justice workers, teachers and in some other professional groups.

It should be noted that, since the statements that make up the L scale are used in their literal meaning, they may not reveal the tendency to appear favorably when it occurs in individuals of sufficiently high intelligence and extensive life experience.

If the results on the L scale are between 70 and 80 T-scores, the resulting profile is questionable, and if the results are above 80 T-scores, it is unreliable. High results on the L scale are usually accompanied by a decrease in the profile level on the main clinical scales. If, despite the high result on the L scale, significant increases in the level of the profile on certain clinical scales are detected, they can be taken into account in the totality of data available to the researcher.

F scale

A significant increase in the profile on this scale indicates accidental or intentional distortion of the study results.

The scale consists of 64 statements, which were extremely rarely regarded as “true” by persons included in the normative group of healthy subjects, according to which the MMIL was standardized. At the same time, these statements rarely differentiated the normative group from the patient groups against which the main scales were validated.

Statements included in the F scale relate, in particular, to unusual thoughts, desires and sensations, overt psychotic symptoms, and those whose existence is almost never recognized by the patients being studied.

If the F scale profile exceeds 70 T-scores, the result is questionable, but can be taken into account when confirmed by other data, including clinical data. If the F-scale result exceeds 80 T-scores, the study result should be considered unreliable. This result may be caused by technical errors made during the survey. In cases where the possibility of error is excluded, the unreliability of the result is determined by the attitude of the subject or his condition. During attitudinal behavior, the subject may recognize true statements concerning unusual or clearly psychotic phenomena (if he seeks to aggravate or simulate psychopathological symptoms).

An unreliable result associated with the patient’s condition may be observed in an acute psychotic state (impaired consciousness, delirium, etc.), which distorts the perception of statements or the reaction to them. A similar distortion can be observed in cases of severe psychotic disorders leading to a defect. A dubious or unreliable result can be obtained from anxious individuals in cases where an urgent need for help prompts them to give considered answers to most statements. In these cases, simultaneously with an increase in the result on the F scale, the entire profile increases significantly, but the shape of the profile is not distorted and the possibility of its interpretation remains. Finally, changes in the subject’s attention can lead to an unreliable result, as a result of which he makes mistakes or cannot understand the meaning of the statement. If an unreliable result is obtained, in some cases it is possible to increase the reliability of the study through re-testing. In this case, it is more advisable to repeatedly present only those statements for which the responses taken into account were received. If the result of repeated testing is unreliable, you can try to establish the reason for the distortion of the result by discussing his answers with the subject. To avoid breaking contact with the subject, it is necessary to obtain his consent to such a discussion.

With a reliable result of the study, a relatively high level of profile on the F scale can be observed in various types of non-conforming individuals, since such individuals will exhibit reactions that are not typical for the normative group, and, accordingly, more often give answers taken into account on the F scale. Violation of conformity may be associated with the originality of perception and logic, characteristic of individuals of the schizoid type, autistic people and those experiencing difficulties in interpersonal contacts, as well as with psychopathic traits in individuals prone to disordered (“bohemian”) behavior or characterized by a pronounced sense of protest against conventional norms. An increase in the profile on the F scale can also be observed in very young people during the period of personality formation in cases where the need for self-expression is realized through non-conformity in behavior and views. Severe anxiety and the need for help usually manifests itself in a relatively high level of result on the described scale.

A moderate increase on the F scale in the absence of psychopathological symptoms usually reflects internal tension, dissatisfaction with the situation, and poorly organized activity. The tendency to follow conventional norms and the absence of internal tension determines a low result on the F scale.

In clinically undoubted cases of the disease, an increase in the profile on the F scale usually correlates with the severity of psychopathological symptoms.

K scale

The scale consists of 30 statements that make it possible to differentiate between individuals who seek to soften or hide psychopathological phenomena and individuals who are overly open.

In the original version of the MMPI, this scale was originally intended to examine the degree of caution of subjects in a testing situation and the tendency (largely unconscious) to deny existing unpleasant sensations, life difficulties and conflicts. The result obtained from the K scale is added to correct the indicated tendency to five of the ten main clinical scales in a proportion corresponding to its influence on each of these scales. However, the K scale, in addition to its significance for assessing the test subject’s reaction to the testing situation and correcting results on a number of basic clinical scales, is of significant interest for assessing certain personality traits of the subject.

Individuals with high scores on the K scale tend to base their behavior on social approval and are concerned about their social status. They tend to deny any difficulties in interpersonal relationships x or in controlling their own behavior, strive to comply with accepted norms and refrain from criticism to the extent that the behavior of others fits within the framework of the accepted norm. Obviously non-conforming, deviating from traditions and customs, behavior of other people that goes beyond the conventional framework causes a pronounced negative reaction in persons giving high scores on the K scale. Due to the tendency to deny (to a large extent at the perceptual level) information indicating difficulties and conflicts, these individuals may not have an adequate idea of ​​how others perceive them. In clinical cases, an expressed desire to achieve a favorable attitude towards oneself may be combined with anxiety and uncertainty.

With insignificant expression (moderate increases on the K scale), the described tendencies not only do not disrupt the individual’s adaptation, but even facilitate it, causing a feeling of harmony with the environment and an approving assessment of the rules accepted in this environment. In this regard, persons with a moderate increase in profile on the K scale give the impression of reasonable, friendly, sociable people with a wide range of interests. Extensive experience in interpersonal contacts and denial of difficulties determine in individuals of this type a more or less high level of enterprise and the ability to find the right line of behavior. Since such qualities improve social adaptation, a moderate increase in the profile on the K scale can be considered a prognostically favorable sign.

Persons with a very low profile level on the K scale are well aware of their difficulties and tend to exaggerate rather than underestimate the degree of personal inadequacy. They do not hide their weaknesses, difficulties and psychopathological disorders. The tendency to be critical of oneself and others leads to skepticism. Their dissatisfaction and tendency to exaggerate the significance of conflicts makes them easily vulnerable and creates awkwardness in interpersonal relationships.

Index F - K

Since the trends measured by the F and K scales are largely in opposite directions, the difference in the primary result obtained on these scales has

essential for determining the attitude of the subject at the time of judging the reliability of the result obtained. The average value of this index in the MMIL is: 7 for men and 8 for women. The intervals at which the result can be considered reliable (if none of the rating scales exceeds 70 T-points) range from -18 to +4 for men, from -23 to +7 for women. If difference F-K is from +5 to +7 for men and from +8 to +10 for women, the result seems doubtful, but if confirmed by clinical data, it can be taken into account provided that none of the rating scales exceeds 80 T-scores.

The greater the F-K difference, the more pronounced the subject’s desire to emphasize the severity of his symptoms and life difficulties, evoke sympathy and condolences. A high level of the F-K index may indicate aggravation. A decrease in the F-K index reflects the desire to improve one’s self-image, mitigate one’s symptoms and emotionally charged problems, or deny their presence. A low level of this index may indicate dissimulation of existing psychopathological disorders.

Clinical scales

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Personal accentuations according to MMPI (SMIL)

Date of creation: 02/17/2004
Update date: 05/13/2016

The “psychological personality portrait” of each person consists of many different properties, like a painting - most often of many colors, or of many shades, even of the same color. These “colors” are called accentuations, and the general personal description is made up of ALL of them: of course, different people have different accentuations expressed to varying degrees, and this makes up the final “picture of your personality.”

Until today, to describe certain characteristics of the human personality on this site, a certain “popular” classification was used, created on the basis of the Leonhard-Kretschmer classification (which, as was said in the article “Such different people,” “had to be somewhat reworked for this purpose.) Among other things, to translate at least the names of certain personal properties (accentuations), as they say, “from psychological into Russian.” As a result, the properties of such personality types as Doubting, Direct, Demonstrative, Non-standard were described... Understandable The point is that these are only “translated from the psychological. or even from the psychiatric "name of accentuations used in professional psychology and psychotherapy.
However, fortunately, the level of psychological awareness, including that of my readers, does not stand still, but is gradually increasing. And today, as the author of popular scientific articles on psychotherapy and psychology, I am faced with the fact that there is not enough information for readers on the properties of personalities. It’s time to offer them the “real” names of certain accentuations - especially since not all accentuations are described in my adapted articles. If we take the same MMPI test (the version on which the “express personality questionnaire” is based), there are as many as 10 basic personality traits, but so far the website has only talked about six.

Moreover, if we are to be scrupulously precise in terminology, it is not entirely legal in in this case talk about personality types. Let me explain. If you take some kind of “personal type”, as a rule, there is only one, the main one. In fact, the “psychological personality portrait” of each person consists of many different properties, like a painting - most often of many colors, or of many shades, even of the same color. These “colors of personality” are called accentuations, and the general personal description is made up of ALL of them: of course, different people have different accentuations expressed to varying degrees, and this makes up the final “picture of your personality.” Some people have some basic, leading, strongly expressed properties; some have few or no properties; For some, something successfully combines with something, and for others, it conflicts... For some, certain personality traits are constitutional (that is, inherent initially to one degree or another), while for others, they are conditioned external conditions (and then, if necessary, change more often and more easily), or are temporary symptoms of a particular problem.

Of course, even a professional multifactor personality test can only be 75-80 percent reliable (the rest “gets” to the consultation during a direct conversation), but sometimes, based on the test results, it is possible to predict and diagnose certain possible problems or at least areas of problems.
But it's present here important point: heuristic diagnostics of such a test. What it is?

According to the explanatory dictionary of the Russian language, “Heuristics is a set of research methods that help to discover the previously unknown. And also a teaching method based on conversations and dialogues that stimulates students to develop an active search for solutions.”
The word “heuristic” comes from the word “eureka”, or essentially discovery, insight. And the test should involve the so-called heuristic interpretation. It is not a computer that should interpret (or, as they say, interpret - produce results and explain them), but a living person - a psychologist or psychotherapist. At best, the computer can build a graph or add up the number of points - but no more. In other words, the MMPI (SMIL) variants multiplied on the RuNet with a fairly standard “final computer interpretation” are unlikely to accurately tell you about your personal portrait. Because a computer is still not capable of adequately reading the same graph resulting from testing, since each graph must be approached with a strictly individual analysis. Because even what is clearly shown on the graph can indicate a variety of things, and seeing “what really is” is a whole science. That is why I do not present the MMPI test itself (SMIL) in the open part of the website, but suggest testing on it and interpreting the final graphs only in the Master Class. There I can at least provide assistance in an adequate and complete (as far as possible in absentia) interpretation of the resulting profile and the most accurate description of combinations and interactions of existing personal accentuations. Because, again, the final testing and the final graph do not always adequately reflect real personality. It happens that during testing a person either lies outright (which is rare), or does not fully understand the test itself (which is more common), or in one way or another unconsciously hides some picture of his own personality from himself (which is even more common)... Reliability of the test and amendments to interpretation in different cases The “unreliable schedule” has been the subject of several large discussions in the MK.

Thus, in the open part of the site, for now I only offer more complete descriptions of personal accentuations (in addition to what was previously) and their scientific names, as well as those properties that were not posted before. In order to subsequently post on the site materials that appeal to more complete and more scientific “personality properties” and use their entire gamut, and not selectively.
Readers are also invited, having become acquainted with the expanded description of personal accentuations, to estimate, at least from their own feelings (if not from the MMPI test available in MK), what accentuations you have and in what quantity, and which ones are missing. And the main thing is how much all this interferes with your life or helps you.
But how to make sure that this or that personal characteristic does not interfere, but helps; How, in the end, without breaking yourself and your constitutional structure, learn to use your accentuations for your own benefit and not for your harm - this, as has been said many times, is a topic not for a general article, but for individual work.

* * *

So, personal accentuations in a “more complete description”
(based on materials from the Master Class and the actual clinical scales of the MMPI):

More detailed descriptions of accentuations and combinations of accentuations can be listened to in audio format as part of the Skype consultation course “What is called character”

Overcontrol (hypochondriasis)

MMPI test scale 1 (SMIL)

The first scale of the MMPI test is called differently in different sources: hypochondriasis, overcontrol, somatization of anxiety, and somatization of depression. I prefer to call it the hypochondria scale or the somatic scale in general, and for clients - the scale of somatic (bodily) ill-being or “concern about one’s health.”

However, we should not forget that not a single psychological test, including the MMPI test (SMIL), does not take x-rays, does not take tests, does not listen to or tap the client, etc.: that is, in itself, in principle, it does not able to make one or another medical diagnosis and determine the number and intensity of physical pain. Scale 1 does not reveal the real state of affairs, but rather the subjective assessment of the subject himself: how sick he considers or does not consider himself to be.

It must be said that moving away from solving psychological problems into psychosomatics is a seemingly easy move, but very insidious. In essence, this is a trap, from which it is then quite difficult to get out. Because a person, in addition to the apparent “relief” (essentially replacing one problem with another), gets a great reason to play a game like “Cripple” - “What do you want from a person with such health” - and generally loses the reason to somehow get out of this pits. And in all such cases, as it is easy to notice, a person considers his physical health as if separately from his personality, appeals to it and blames him - but, as it were, says that “I can’t do anything about it.” That is, we get a special case of the option when a person blames society, other people, circumstances, and even his physical body for his problems.

By the way, an express test for hypochondria is if a person comes to a doctor (it doesn’t even matter which one, even if it’s the same psychotherapist) to treat his illness. A non-hypochondriac comes to the doctor to cure his illness. The difference, unfortunately, is significant.

And the scale of overcontrol gives high indicators, in principle, for those people who, for one reason or another, want to strictly control their entire unconscious, including their physiology and body activity. Sometimes – for “power over oneself”, sometimes – simply for structuring your time. When a person does not have enough external impressions, when he is in information isolation, but he needs impressions, he begins to receive them “from himself.” Sometimes - starting to manically track, say, a graph of your blood pressure, or, excuse me, the frequency of trips to the toilet, or something else in this area. As one of the major researchers of the MMPI test (SMIL) L.N. Sobchik writes in her brochure “Methods of Psychological Diagnostics”, this property "...reveals the motivational orientation of the individual to meet normative criteria both in the social environment and in the sphere of the physiological functions of his body. The main problem of this type of personality is suppression of spontaneity, inhibition of self-realization, hypersocial orientation of interests, orientation to rules, instructions, beliefs, inertia in making decisions, avoiding serious responsibility..." I can add that there are entire families where physiology is placed under strict control, and as a result, a kind of “cult of the proper functioning of the body” arises. And if your pulse becomes slightly faster or sometimes you feel dizzy, this becomes a matter of concern and a topic for another conversation with your local therapist. And then this “correct functioning of the body and control over it” can develop depending on other accentuations.

Pessimism (depression)

scale 2 of the MMPI test (SMIL)

Previously, this accentuation was not included in the “Who is Who” section.

As a rule, it is with a rise in MMPI scale 2 that a person comes to a psychotherapist’s office. However, how legitimate is it in the clinical sense to call this scale a depression scale?.. After all, depression is no longer an independent sign, but a kind of symptom. And by the way, although the second scale is “tailored” to the clinical concept of depression, the colloquial meaning of this word is much closer to what its results reflect.

A peak (especially not very pronounced) on the second scale in a real living person, in general, only indicates a slight decrease in interest in life, a decline in vital activity. In such cases, I often quote Pushkin to clients: “... the Russian melancholy took possession of him little by little; he, thank God, did not dare to try to shoot himself yet, but he completely lost interest in life.” If the peak is pronounced and high, it can also speak of latent suicidal readiness, especially if there is a deep failure in hypochondria (that is, the person frankly doesn’t give a damn about himself and his health). If at the same time there is an increase in impulsiveness, one can with a high probability assume suicidal behavior (driving a car at high speed, attempts to go to “hot spots”, and in general any desire to contact any danger).

Experts with psychiatric education have long noted that the term “depression” has become “popular” and now means something completely different from what was previously assumed: in any case, when you rise to level 2 of the test, as a rule, you don’t have to talk about the so-called classic depressive disorder triad and about depression in its psychiatric, endogenous understanding. Therefore, when analyzing the peak on the depression scale, it should be taken into account that there are two types of depression: endogenous (or “causeless”, for which there seems to be no external reasons - it is caused by internal personal factors and is much more often a sign of impending mental ill-being and at least the so-called " borderline state"), and exogenous - caused by obvious external factors: from natural disasters and catastrophes to troubles of a personal, family, sexual and the like nature. And before you begin to analyze possible depression itself, you need to understand its nature. In particular, in the case of endogenous depression (as a sign of mental illness), a peak on this scale should be indicated at least above 90 T points, in addition - the values ​​of other scales and the so-called certain “minus symptoms” of the person being tested - if any in general a person does not have natural reactions or they are distorted.

In short, at the peak on the “depression scale,” a person experiences a certain discomfort in life (and this is to put it mildly): he feels bad - but it is unclear why, he is afraid - but cannot determine what, he has a lot of negative emotions - but he does not can figure out where it comes from, cannot isolate the main thing in the general problem (this, in particular, is usually associated with difficulties with the formulation of “specific orders”, which is why it is necessary to first offer help in the formulation itself and begin working with orders like “I feel bad in my life and I don’t understand why”). Here we can offer an analogy with a novice driver who is driving along a busy highway and is worried about everything around him. Often, due to lack of driving experience, he cannot figure out what is negative information and what is not; what you should pay attention to and what you can ignore; which signs are alarming and which are not so much. In the same way, a person who manages his own life (and even more so is just learning how to do so) often experiences similar sensations on the “life path”, and naturally, when tested, can give a peak on scale 2.

Almost everyone experiences cycloid mood swings, only with different periods; During the “down period,” a peak on the “depression scale” is common and, as a rule, goes away on its own during the “uplift” period. Therefore, it may be useful to track such periods in yourself and, if possible, not plan important matters and vigorous activity during “periods of low mood.”

In general, a peak on scale 2 is an indicator of some kind of trouble in life, and if this fact is ignored, this trouble, if present for a long time, will most likely turn into somatics (and a peak on the second scale will turn into a peak on the first). Why else can it be proposed to call this scale not “depression” as such, but, in ICD terms, “discomfort of unknown etiology.”

Theoretically, we can say that a “peak on the depression scale” is usually a consequence of a developed brain that needs new information. As they say, “many knowledge brings many sorrows.” If we return to the analogy with a novice driver, then his discomfort will significantly decrease if an experienced instructor is placed next to him in the car, and the car itself is equipped with duplicate pedals. Then he, a beginner, will not be a leader, but a follower in essence, will not be responsible for anything, will not have to determine and analyze anything, and he will not have a peak of “depression.” That is, if a person does not manage his life himself , and someone else is carrying him, and most importantly, if he is completely satisfied with this, then he usually does not have a peak on the 2nd scale. At least as long as the situation remains comfortable for him.

And one more thing: very often, when talking with clients about their "depression scores", I say that today's concept of depression (which, again, is itself nothing more than a symptom) is very similar to the concept of " headache"(at least in relation to the elimination of this symptom). A person’s head can hurt for a variety of reasons: for example, in the case of viral intoxication (say, influenza), in case of poisoning with some carbon monoxide, with hypertension, with migraines, with a hangover... and many, many other possible reasons. How are headaches usually treated? Usually in two ways: taking analgesics (usually called “head pills”) or identifying and guaranteed elimination of the cause of the pain, as a result of which the pain itself as a symptom naturally goes away.
Depression is the same - even if at first it was possible to distinguish endogenous from exogenous, then, if possible, the causes of its occurrence should be determined. And in terms of getting rid of it, two tactics are also possible: either antidepressants of various kinds (which can also rightfully be called “head pills”), or analysis and elimination of the causes of depression as a symptom.

This is, perhaps, the first scale we are considering that is constitutional (that is, sometimes inherent in a person almost at the genetic level). If peaks in hypochondria and depression are most often provoked from the outside, or at least to a greater extent reflect the current state of a person, and not his personal essence, then the level of hysteria is determined by the structure of the personality, and is corrected with much greater difficulty.
But is it always necessary to correct it?

The level of emotional lability (or hysterical-type accentuation, or translated into “ordinary” language - demonstrativeness) is a quality in many areas of life that is by no means superfluous. (). Moreover, on the MMPI (SMIL) chart you can see not only the level of demonstrativeness itself, but also how much it bothers a person or not (the value of the third scale is precisely in combination with other scales).

It is sometimes difficult for a person with hysterical accentuation to see and feel reality: he sometimes not so much lives as plays with life, like a child with a toy, and like a child, he exists here and now, in the moment in which he is. This makes it very difficult to communicate with him, especially to build any long-term interactions. You can recall the famous statement of Stanislavsky: that “Actors are children, only sons of bitches.” It is clear that the great director himself was probably no stranger to demonstrativeness, and the interaction of hysteroid with hysteroid is all the more difficult since each of them, firstly, plays life in his own performance, and secondly, as is known, “two examples in one doesn't happen in the theater." Why else can companies, mainly consisting of demonstrative people, not boast of a comfortable psychological climate: they certainly involve all sorts of intrigues, squabbles and underhand games.

The hysteroid almost always lives, focusing on the external observer: what is important to him is not how something manifests itself and acts in essence, but how it looks. Why is hysteria an almost indispensable component of phobias of a “social nature”: for example, phobia of open space or phobia of the metro/public transport. Because there are people in open space and in transport, and it often seems to a pronounced hysterical person (more precisely, his unconscious is convinced) that all these people should certainly applaud when he appears. Standing. What if they don't applaud? What will happen then? It will be a nightmare! And an extremely pronounced hysterical person may refuse to appear in public at all. Of course, not everything in the occurrence of such phobias is so simple; other accentuations and complexes also play a role, but pronounced maladaptive hysteria in such cases is almost always present.

Feedback is important to a hysteroid; he cannot “work in emptiness.” As you know, one of the most difficult tasks in training actors is to work “for an empty hall” or “for a passing crowd.” In the same way, for a clearly demonstrative personality, no “performance” will take place without an audience. No expression of emotion can be achieved alone.

But be that as it may, hysteria is extremely necessary for working with people. The best teachers, salesmen, and psychologists have hysterical accentuation to a certain degree of severity. Without hysteria, by the way, it is impossible to be a blogger: no other accentuation will allow a person to open up to the public like that.

Hysteroids are very sensitive to external emotional factors. Yes, they often have problems with perceiving information at a logical level, with observation and analysis of observation results. But they grasp the emotional background easily and quickly. A hysteroid is like a radio: he speaks, but does not listen, so it is often difficult for him to explain anything. But even if you call a hysterical “radio”, he can be a very sensitive “receiver” in the emotional sense, and catch even the most imperceptible “wave of mood” of his interlocutor. Moreover, to catch it only in order to immediately unconsciously copy and reflect. This is why hysterics are often considered good conversationalists, especially when they don’t get to know each other too closely.

And the most important thing is that here, for clarity, we have to analyze a pronounced, almost mono-peak hysteroid. And among the real majority of people there are not so many of them: much more often this accentuation is adjacent to various others and manifests itself much softer and more adequately. Moreover, in the office we often have to talk about the “graph of a potentially successful person,” so a small peak on the 3rd scale in this graph is almost obligatory.

Hysteria as a character trait is quite often directly suppressed in boys and cultivated in girls. That from the very beginning, manifestations of this accentuation were observed almost only in women, as well as manifestations of hysteria itself (what Charcot and his student Freud did). The name hysteria (and, accordingly, hysteria) comes from the Greek hystéra - uterus: the organ that actually symbolized being female.

One of the main tasks of a hysteroid is the desire to please (the public), and in a patriarchal society this coincides with the perception of a woman as a commodity: she should also be liked, and what’s easier is to develop her hysterical accentuation almost to a monopeak. and that's all. And those who do not have this accentuation or it is implicitly expressed are called “fake women” and stigmatized. And men are still prohibited from being demonstrative: at least, let’s say it’s “disapproved.” "Boys shouldn't cry!" This results in a gender bias in accentuations. Moreover, many people of both sexes, as a result of this pressure, live not as they are comfortable, but as “society” dictates.

The main feature of a hysteroid is, first of all, high emotionality and instability in this area, and not in the area of ​​the “entire nervous system.” After all, the second name for hysteria is “emotional lability,” that is, just emotional instability, emotional mobility. And the majority of scientists working in the field of personality classifications recognize hysterics as lability exclusively in the field of emotions (that is, a more frequent and pronounced need to replace some emotions with others, on the one hand, and on the other, the need to perceive emotions as such and to express them emotions out.)

And the “need for high self-importance,” which is often attributed to hysterics, is already a concept from the “social layer”; it is still somewhat secondary in relation to “emotional needs”. The hysteroid needs emotions, emotions in their pure form, and from as many sources as possible (it is clear that the need for the number of sources correlates with the severity of this radical). And such a need of a pronounced hysteroid can easily be mistaken for a “need for high significance.” Because if he lacks “sources of emotions from the outside,” he “causes fire on himself”: “Well then, look what I am like! Then express something about me, or something!”
And this is where confusion very often occurs: a hysterical person does not need attention in itself. He again needs emotions, feelings, experiences that satisfy his lability in this area. And attention may be one of the sources of these emotions.

And here - about the specifics of creating long-term, including family, relationships by hysterics.

Imagine an actor: talented, experienced, with a sense of the stage and command of the audience. This actor plays in the play and every time he splashes out into the audience a large amount of emotions and experiences that correspond to the role. And in a very concentrated form: sometimes the actor in the role lives the entire life of the character during the performance.
The audience in the hall perceives these emotions and gives feedback in the form of oohs and ahs, applause and flowers.
But the average viewer goes to the theater about once every six months: the emotions, experiences and impressions he receives from the actor are enough for about this time.

The actor, as a demonstrative personality, can again perform the same (or another) performance the next day, and again throw concentrated emotions into the hall: he has an increased need for this process. But in front of him there will be a whole hall of other spectators who will also greedily perceive his experiences in the role, because they have not yet, relatively speaking, “had their fill.”

For an actor, such a life is ordinary, familiar, corresponding to his accentuation. Every day, outbursts of bright, concentrated emotions on the public? This is wonderful, it completely compensates for his hysterical nature.

Now imagine that such an actor lives with his spouse - it doesn’t even matter what gender they are! - in a long-term relationship. And every day he is not on stage, but, say, in the kitchen. Moreover, he is with the same need in the everyday Niagara of emotions and feedback. Of course, in most cases, the spouse is not able to give the same reactions as the daily new crowd of spectators, and soon the “actor” gets very tired of the release of emotions. And, of course, after some time it either does not give feedback, or gives it very weakly (at least for the purpose of its own “conservation of energy”). Then the “actor” begins to provoke the partner (partner) into “feedback”: and taking into account the fact that the hysteroid usually does not care what color this connection is, it can be negative, as long as it is present – ​​quarrels, scandals are often used as a provocation, throwing objects, breaking dishes, causing jealousy, outright cheating and any other actions designed to “stir up” the one with whom the “actor” (“actress”) lives.

What if there are two “actors” in the family? Here the problems will arise primarily around the question “who is the actor and who is the spectator.” Since both have the “need to be an actor,” in the absence of the ability to compromise, the couple will also be very unstable. Why, in fact, are marriages of two clearly demonstrative personalities who were unable to agree on a “schedule of performances” so short-lived?

By the way, during the conference there was a question about how hysterical and impulsive couples get along. Sometimes it’s quite successful: one needs an emotional release, the other needs a stimulus for a quick reaction. And here the classic joke “Darling, go punch your neighbor in the face, otherwise it’s boring” just illustrates, albeit schematically and rather one-sidedly, how a hysterical person and an impulsive person can get along perfectly. Especially if they both belong to the 2nd group of motivations (that is, they have approximately similar life goals) and the hysterical one is a woman, and the impulsive one is a man (that is, they both fit into the gender expectations of the average society and do not conflict with public censorship). We also have quite a lot of such “actress and athlete” couples.

But we will talk about the specifics of an impulsive personality below.

Impulsiveness

MMPI test scale 4 (SMIL)

"type Direct" .

The team of authors who at one time created the MMIL - the “Russian MMPI” (Berezin, Miroshnikov and Sokolova) called this scale “Realization of emotional tension in direct behavior.”
There is certainly logic in this: a person with such an accentuation, as a rule, lives “here and now.” And it functions according to the “stimulus-response” system. But life is sometimes difficult for him; because if you remember what a stimulus is - a stick with a pointed end, which in Ancient Rome was used to poke careless oxen in the butt - it turns out that an impulsive person, forgive the analogy, is constantly being poked by something in the butt. Sometimes it hurts. Because not all of his needs, which right now require implementation, can be fulfilled in the form in which he wants to fulfill them.

For such accentuation, any impact from the environment is a stimulating action in general for some kind of reaction. If a hysterical person needs vivid emotional experiences and impressions, as well as the opportunity to “reflect” them, an impulsive person needs to be, in principle, somehow “influenced” from the outside. That very case when “the thunder doesn’t strike - the man doesn’t cross himself.” Including because living according to the principle of “here and now”, such a person does not know how to predict his actions for the future. And he discovers the need to do something only when he finally “feels like it.”

If there are no such influences on an impulsive person, he begins to generate them himself. We said that in the situation sensory deprivation The hysteroid begins to “eat itself,” as it were, that is, to extract impressions from its own body. The impulsive person begins, if you like, to “eat” the environment and the people around him: irritate, provoke, create extreme situations around himself - just to achieve any “stimulus” addressed to him.
As a result, the expressed representatives of this accentuation initially have a reduced “instinct of self-preservation” - both due to the lack of the ability to predict, and because of the constant unconscious desire to receive more “external stimuli”. It is precisely such a person who is capable of starting a fight out of nowhere, provoking insults directed at himself, getting involved in various situations fraught with consequences, etc.
It is clear that in such a life, an impulsive person, as a rule, is quite shy himself. For in my soul I am always ready to “resist troubles” (which he brings upon himself, but does not seem to notice it!)

Impulsivity as a leading accentuation often accompanies gross violation of laws in one form or another. There are a lot of impulsive people in prisons; among those who neglect traffic rules; among fighters of all stripes and among addicted people: alcoholics, drug addicts, etc. The trouble with impulsiveness (let me remind you once again that for clarity we always discuss a pure scale, monopeak and without “admixtures”) is that a person with this accentuation usually wants to get what he wants right here and now. If you liked someone’s toy, take it away, steal someone else’s car, rape a stranger’s girl. But I wanted to get momentary pleasure, regardless of the dangerous consequences - then drink, smoke or drive around the city at two hundred. Moreover, as a rule, an impulsive person does not feel guilty after all this. Because - firstly, he does not accumulate experience if his behavior leads him into trouble. Then - the impulsive person is not afraid of anything because he does not calculate the situation beyond one or two steps forward, and literally does not see what he needs to be afraid of. This is the very case of the “knight without fear and reproach”, which we often have to tell clients about. And finally, an impulsive person develops a skewed sense of justice. Like, why did they take the toy out into the yard, leave the car unattended, and the girl went out alone into the street in the evening, and even in a short skirt?!

People with severe impulsiveness can thus be quite childish. They do not predict the consequences of their actions, they are dissocial and unconsciously ignore all social principles. This becomes a particular problem in societies where the formation and development of impulsivity is actually supported: more often in men. Just like hysteria in women. Because an impulsive person is an ideal ordinary soldier, a machine for carrying out orders, especially if this execution is associated with extreme sports, which he always lacks in life. He will not think twice if, for example, they tell him “Go and kill”: he has no feeling of anxiety, no sense of danger. And it won’t even occur to him that they could kill him, as in the old joke: “Why me?..”

Alas, sometimes the life of an impulsive personality is not so long - if only because he constantly provokes extreme situations around himself and is prone to taking risks, and uncalculated, unjustified, frenzied ones. And he has this risk in everything - from finances to life and health. For example, he drives a car riskily (and riskily for himself and for others). And it is the impulsive person who, as a result of an accident provoked by himself, will jump out of the car and climb on the victim with his fists: “It’s your fault that you’re in the way here.”

But part of the solution to the problem of “lack of risk and extremeness” is socially acceptable and safe method Sports can help such people. Not physical education, but professional sports, where there is risk, and the spirit of competition, and the opportunity to “annoy the offender,” and similar thrills to “relieve excess adrenaline.” Moreover, not everyone has to engage in this kind of sport - for most it is enough to be ardent fans.

In theory, moderate impulsiveness can be quite useful. All impulsive people have extremely quick reactions: while others are thinking, they are already doing. And if the situation is quite simple, then they win (but in more complex, multifaceted situations, alas, they often lose).

Reaction speed allows an impulsive personality to easily adapt and achieve significant heights in any profession where such speed is required. He feels especially good in close proximity to extreme situations: in any military conflict (in battle), in the police, in urgent (urgent) medicine, in the same Rescue Service. (Here, by the way, I should note that it is not for nothing that the crew of the Rescue Service consists of several people: to carry out rescue operations, people of different accentuations are most often required. It is impulsive to react quickly and act promptly in an extreme situation, but if the instantly made decision did not bear fruit "- here a psychasthenic is already needed to analyze the situation and find the optimal way out, taking into account all the interference that has arisen, and an epileptoid who will carry out the necessary monotonous actions calmly and prudently.)

However, “in peacetime” impulsive individuals often have difficulty communicating. First of all, because their reaction is instantaneous, they often communicate under the influence of a certain impulse: it seemed to him that he was offended - he, without even bothering to support his feeling with objective data, immediately offends in response. (If he had thought for at least half a second, he might have realized that there was no offense towards him here: but he cannot think, he immediately acts at the call of his accentuation). And such a constant desire to “snarl” at any statement addressed to him, willy-nilly, provokes an aggressive attitude of others towards him.

And the impulsive person himself, in principle, does not notice that he offends others (this is his mode of life, in the same way the hysterical person takes for granted what he alone says, and others listen). And when an impulsive person receives complaints in one form or another for his behavior, he sincerely cannot understand why. In his understanding, he didn’t say or do anything like that! Thus, such individuals come to the feeling that “the whole world is against them.” And that it is not his personal problems that need to be solved, but those around him who need to be changed and remade.
By the way, if the value of 4 scale MMPI (SMIL) is above 80T, they are already talking about the so-called “psychopathy from the circle of unstable.”

However, from a great distance such problems in communicating with an impulsive person are not visible. And to many teenagers, people with such accentuation seem to be “role models.” After all, not only do they have a related structure of thinking - what is usually called “teenage maximalism”, but young people are also impressed by the speed of reaction of their idol, as well as his “confidence in everything” (based on the same desire for clarity and dismissal of any side effects). options). Therefore, very often impulsive people become leaders of totalitarian sects, “godfathers” of youth criminal groups, heads of Nazi associations and similar formations.

The desire to get everything “here and now” prevents people with impulsive accentuation from engaging in activities whose results are not immediately visible. Moreover, if they often do not achieve real success “right now,” they strive to replace this success with an appearance, but one that can be obtained right away. That is why there are many impulsive gamblers (in general, passion and risk-taking are their distinguishing features). And even if they are engaged in business, it is most often one that involves risk and is focused on a one-time big jackpot. Most businessmen of the pre-crisis period are pronounced impulsive personalities. By the way, most of them were unable to survive the notorious crisis of 1998 precisely because they did not strive in their activities to predict certain problematic situations, including financial ones.

The ability to accept pseudo-success instead of real success sometimes makes an impulsive person prone to any kind of addiction: from nicotine and alcohol to drugs. He is not able to deny himself what he wants “right now.” Moreover, he is not able to predict the consequences of this desire. By the way, one detail: being a narcologist and starting work with MMPI, I tested more than a thousand patients in a narcological hospital. The results were completely different profiles, but one common peak could easily be seen: correctly, exactly on the 4th scale.

However, in contrast to the point of view of the above-mentioned group of Berezin, who believes that impulsivity is not amenable to psychotherapy at all, I am quite able to work (and have worked) with impulsive people: starting with 15 years of work experience in narcology and then in psychotherapy, including private practice. Because if a person has intelligence, then his impulsiveness can be helped to start working on this intelligence, and not forced to suppress his intellect with the same drugs.

They say that such accentuation is more typical for men - not at all! Again, often in society the prerequisites for hysteria in women and impulsiveness in men are initially formed (they say, it’s like the ideal of a real man - a kind of rude “macho”). That is why it is even more difficult for a woman with impulsive accentuation to realize herself: almost all professions in which such a person feels like a duck to water are considered masculine. Therefore, impulsive women work a little everywhere and have similar problems everywhere. The only place where they can more or less socialize is in middle management positions. And even there they have friction with employees because of their “bad character.” In general, a conversation about the professional fulfillment of an impulsive woman must be conducted taking into account her other accentuations.

But many male clients who strive to become “real men” (gender cliches and their imposition will be discussed in the analysis of scale 5) turn to me with a request to make them “Lieutenant Rzhevsky”: an impulsive person “without fear or reproach” . I would like to pay special attention to this point: precisely because of the frequency of such orders.

This customer, as a rule, believes that it is much easier for an impulsive personality to exist precisely because the speed of his decisions is such an instant and error-free analysis! But here it turns out according to the principle “It’s good where we are not”: a person who, without thoughtful analysis, doesn’t even buy groceries in a store, sometimes sincerely cannot imagine that the pronounced impulsive “Rzhevsky” most often does not think about decisions at all. And exactly what is done according to the “stimulus-response” principle. Therefore, making a thoughtful person like this is theoretically impossible, it’s like just cutting off the legs of a tall person who complains about being too tall. Or offer a short person to play basketball on stilts.

Continuing this analogy, the very roughly structure of personality, its core, can be compared... well, even with growth. Let’s say your height is, let’s say, a bit short, in your opinion. You can’t play basketball, they won’t take you. And you go to a “growth coach” to help you.
One coach will help you find yourself in some other area where height is not important;
Another coach will teach you how to play basketball with a short stature, like Armenak Alachachyan (a famous basketball player with a height of 164 cm);
The third trainer will break your legs and put you on the Ilizarov machine, on which, at the cost of a year of torment, you might add ten centimeters to the length of your legs, if you’re lucky;
The fourth coach will tie stilts to your feet and force you to learn to play basketball on stilts.
Which approach will be most effective for you?

By the way, the opposite situation is also possible: you are too tall, they won’t take you on a submarine. And about the same options.

The core of the personality structure is still basic. Yes, some correction of the profile is possible, for example, with age or as a result of serious therapy, but no therapy can turn a mouse into a hedgehog. Therefore, when working with problems related to personality structure, I try to adhere to tactics based on combining the actions of the “first and second trainers.” Depending on the customer's aspirations.

And in general, let me remind you again that there are no “bad and good accentuations,” and with any personality core it is important, first of all, to know its characteristics and be able to use it competently. As a matter of fact, in many respects I am engaged in teaching such use.

Masculinity-femininity

MMPI test scale 5 (SMIL)

Previously, this accentuation was not included in the “Who is Who” section.

The fifth scale of the test, according to the developments of the authors of the “Russian MMPI” (Berezin, Miroshnikov and Sokolova), is called “severity of male and female character traits.” In short, it is “masculinity-femininity”. This scale has a very funny history.

It is the only one in the MMPI test that is actually not related to any pathologies. This scale was included in the test to identify respondents with homosexual inclinations: however, in the then homophobic society where the test was developed, it was possible to talk about this only around the bush, and therefore the scale as a result tests not the variability of sexual orientation, but socio-gender issues, based on the so-called “male” and “female” behavioral characteristics, character traits, choice of profession, etc. And as a result, it does not reflect homosexual/heterosexual tendencies at all. If we talk about other scales without particularly emphasizing gender differences, then here there is a fundamentally different interpretation for men and women. However, the value of the fifth scale, by and large, does not reflect changes in the sexual orientation of the subject (although this scale was tested specifically on persons with a changed orientation).

Indicator 5 is a kind of “degree of expression of an eye on society”, or “degree of tolerance (conformity) to gender social attitudes.” The result of the fifth scale determines the compliance of the test taker’s behavior with socially accepted norms of “male and female behavior.” For example, it is initially assumed that men are characterized by quick reactions, aggressiveness and intransigence, while women are characterized by sensitivity, love of coziness and comfort, the desire to have children, etc. Here it turns out that a purposeful business woman may well receive a “masculine” accentuation, and a homely man who is interested in cooking and loves children – a “feminine” accentuation. Also, as a rule, a male pediatrician or psychotherapist, especially a comforting one, receives a “female five” on the chart.
Now let's take a closer look at the interpretation of the fifth scale. In order not to get confused, let's say in general that the peak on this scale reflects the presence of “qualities of the opposite sex” in a person: for a woman - masculinity, and for a man - femininity.

A man with a “failure” on scale 5 (with a failure - because this scale is designed so that the peak on it shows the severity of character traits characteristic of the opposite sex) is usually called a “macho”. But if you think about it, who is a macho in the first place? This is a bull. That is, an aggressive creature, convinced of primacy physical strength and, in principle, “highly primitive” (and “highly primitive”). Strong, rude, prone to competition and fighting. This behavior, by the way, is typical among animals for those males who, after the birth of their offspring, are not allowed near this offspring: the macho man is needed only for fertilization. In general, in order to live in a stable pair with a female, a male animal needs behavioral qualities that people consider “feminine”: conformity, tolerance, sensitivity, etc. Markov mentioned this in one of his books: and also that in modern human society the so-called “feminine men” are increasingly valued. And not so much because they “beautifully look after” the woman herself, but because they are better partners and fathers than those same macho men who can raise their hands to their wife and child, and even raise their voices – very often. Not even speaking about. that such machos generally consider caring for a child “beneath their dignity”, since “this is a woman’s occupation.”
By the way, among the men who committed this or that violence, there are an overwhelming number of individuals with a “failure” on the 5th scale (Berezin mentions that similar studies were conducted by G.Kh. Efremova at the Research Institute of the Prosecutor’s Office).

And a peak of five in a male chart seems to be a manifestation of “feminine traits”: the owner of such a chart is probably sensitive, conformist, and friendly. Or wants to appear so. Here it is necessary to pay attention to the reliability scales. For example, the femininity expressed in a graph in a man with a fairly “closed” profile just indicates that the person being tested wants to seem like a “sensitive, kind, non-conflict person”, to hide the sharp corners of his personality - including those caused by internal problems.

In general, for men, scales 4 and 5 are to a large extent antonyms. And if both are expressed in peaks (that is, in a man, along with impulsiveness, the test shows not masculine, but feminine qualities) - then either this is again an unreliable graph, or this can actually indicate deviations of a sexual nature (true or acquired ) For example - about some kind of “false homosexuality” in combination with the desire to certainly prove to others or to oneself one’s “masculinity” with the help of harsh behavior, rudeness and other “generally masculine behavior” (which is reflected on the graph, meanwhile, as the properties of an impulsive personality ). But of course, the final “verdict” in terms of orientation must be made by a specialist: taking into account, in addition to the schedule, the behavior of the subject himself, his phenotype, hormonal status, medical history, etc.

If a man shows impulsiveness (4th scale) and masculinity (5th scale) on the graph, it is important to understand the difference between them. An indicator on scale 4 is, in principle, the speed of reaction to some stimulus, and an indicator on 5 is “the degree of social assessment based on the presence of qualities that are considered masculine in society.” This is why impulsiveness is sometimes considered a masculine quality - where a man is clearly perceived as “only a defender,” the defender’s ability to react quickly to an attack is valued. And therefore, impulsiveness more often manifests itself in young men, boys: they are concerned with “proving to everyone that they are already men,” and therefore they strenuously highlight impulsiveness - taking into account their general adolescent personality structure, which in itself requires “proving to the world that they already have maturity and independence."

On the female chart, the peak on the fifth scale means the manifestation of male (in the social understanding!) traits - aggressiveness, desire for competition, ability to stand up for oneself, etc. Again, this in no way means that this woman is in many ways a man - she just has such a character. And who said that a masculine woman is necessarily tough and impudent? Indeed: some masculinity in a woman is not necessarily masculinity, toughness and a desire to command. Let’s say, the ability to defend one’s opinion and have one in general, as well as the ability not to build one’s whole life to please society. As L.N. Sobchik writes, “A woman’s high scores on scale 5 reflect the traits of masculinity and independence in decision-making...” True, here I would still define “high” not in the sense of “close to borderline values”, but in principle “reflecting more masculinity than femininity.” And masculinity would be understood primarily as the “absence of socially approved” female fears - fear of mice and snakes or fear of being left without a male protector, for example (“Even if there is one, but so that there is one. Just in case, for safety”).

In general, masculinity is sometimes a desire for independence (another thing is that the higher its indicator during testing, the more acute and distorted the concept of “independence” can be perceived, and ultimately turn out to be a desire not to depend at all on any socially acceptable norms of behavior and official laws) .

Therefore, during testing, masculinity often manifests itself in the most seemingly soft and feminine girls and women - for example, when they live in their parents’ family and are forced to fight for independence, or, in principle, somewhere they have to defend the right to live with their own mind. Or for completely “feminine” wives who are forced to live with an unloved husband (if they also love another...) Thus, a woman’s “masculine” fifth scale turns out to be only an expression of “protest, masculine behavior” in this particular situation. Also, the “masculine” five often manifests itself in women in a society where they are considered a “second-class sex” - or rather, in those women who actively protest against this. In any case, if the subject, in external communication, clearly does not have any “socially recognized masculine traits” and especially shows pronounced hysteria on the graph, her peak in masculinity may reflect an internal protest or a certain kind of maladjustment. And after eliminating the problem that caused this maladjustment, as a rule, disappears. And in any case, if a lady is engaged in business, she most often has to have some masculinity - even if not her own, but obtained as a result of a protest against the fact that she is not taken seriously.

But it is important to distinguish femininity in a woman from hysteria. For example, “I want to become more beautiful” is hysterical. “I should worry about becoming more beautiful” - this is feminine 5. That is, a hysterical (of any gender!) cares about his appearance and the impression he makes, because this is his mode of life, this is his need (and he expects applause for oneself), and feminine 5, especially strongly expressed, is “the duty to take care of one’s appearance in order to please others.” Moreover, try to fit into those canons of beauty that already exist, and not into those that have been developed for yourself.

As for “differences in the manifestations of masculinity and femininity in women and men,” the differences are not so much in quality as in quantity: more precisely, “each gender has its own norm.” For example: if a man fought back the hooligans pestering him using the “fist in the teeth” system, he did well, if a woman did the same, this in itself is often not approved. Remember sometimes in childhood: “Why are you fighting, you’re a girl!” And vice versa: male defense from the position of “Darling, let’s not walk down a dark street in principle, there might be hooligans there” is often perceived not as an attempt to protect the partner in advance, but as the cowardice of the partner. But what the partner said, “Darling, let’s not walk down a dark street,” is sometimes perceived as “natural and even commendable behavior for a woman.”

In general, where did these formulations come from, that certain qualities are masculine or feminine? Are there not, for example, aggressive women or sensitive men?

Working with social and gender expectations and attitudes, one cannot help but note that in many societies there is a so-called tendency towards simplification. In particular, as we know, people have long wanted to immediately know as much as possible about their potential interlocutor or simply about someone who accidentally fell into their social circle, even temporarily. So this binary division has appeared: a man or a woman is almost always immediately visible (and those who are not visible are attacked so as not to confuse good citizens). That is, everything is simple: a person in a skirt and bra means he is compliant and submissive, in trousers and with a beard it means he is aggressive and prone to competition. And children were raised the same way: a girl should do this and should not do that, a boy - accordingly. That is, character traits tested specifically on scale 5 are not biologically determined, they are a product of social upbringing. That is why scale 5 does not test homosexuality. It tests something else: the extent to which a particular subject conflicts with the surrounding society, which expects certain gender behavioral markers from him or her. One pole of the 5th scale is what society expects from biological M, and the second - from biological F. Thus, scale 5 turned out to be completely uninteresting for clinical psychiatrists, but became extremely useful for psychotherapists working with healthy people, including those with problems "a healthy person in an unhealthy society."

Now, theoretically, we can say that some statements of the fifth scale of the MMPI are outdated or becoming obsolete (after all, the test was created in the States in the 40s of the last century, and adapted to our realities in the 70s of the last century). But we still live in a gender-oriented society, and therefore it is difficult to abandon this scale: especially for a psychotherapist working with the analysis of the “person-environment” system.

However, the boundaries of gender are gradually but steadily blurring: in many societies there are no longer such concepts as “female and male social roles.” Increasingly, this is becoming a purely conditional division.

They say that recently the term “inversion family” even arose: one in which the man takes care of the house and children, and the woman earns money. For a patriarchal society, this is very unusual and causes aggression in some, but in a society where gender attitudes are already quite blurred, such a term does not exist. Because such a situation becomes one of the possible habitual options. In general, a pragmatic approach in defining “gender roles” is extremely important: certain tasks are carried out not by the one to whom it is intended “by gender,” but by the one who has the capabilities and appropriate resources at the moment.

In general, the blurring of gender boundaries and the transition to a pragmatic approach almost directly depend on non-hierarchical education. So that boys and girls are not brought up with the constant saying that “the opposite sex is worse than ours.” Because as a result of such upbringing, a child of any gender grows up with a built-in censorship feeling that there must certainly be a competition between the sexes “who is better or who is worse,” and if you leave this competition, they will sit on your neck and go to hell. But in fact, it happens that if you leave this competition, then there will be no need to compare anything with anyone. Even if this measure will be actively imposed from the outside.

We also discussed the topic of why it is believed that “a real woman should be stupid.” But the MMPI test, and in particular its fifth scale, in no way deals with issues of intelligence. And the attitude “a woman must be stupid” obviously follows from the same hierarchical thinking, in particular, from the attitude “a man must be taller than a woman.” Here I recall a quote from some document from Peter the Great’s times: “A subordinate should look dashing and stupid, so as not to embarrass his superiors with his understanding.” That is, if a certain man is convinced that by gender and gender he will always be higher and better than a woman, then the presence of a woman’s intelligence higher than his own can painfully break his pattern. And if a “real woman” wants to function as a commodity and ultimately find a buyer, then she literally has to pretend to be more stupid than she is.

And again, everything comes down to the same fact: where representatives of both sexes do not have hierarchical thinking, there, as a rule, there are no gender restrictions or any requirements for a person just because he (s) refers to one gender or another.

Epileptoidism (rigidity of affect)

MMPI test scale 6 (SMIL)

Previously in the "Who's Who" section the accentuation has been described as "down to earth type".

Why the term “epileptoid” is used and what relation it has to epilepsy is discussed below. And rigidity is essentially “stiffness”, inertia of thinking, resistance to any changes. A person with a peak on this scale strives to ensure that tomorrow everything is guaranteed to be the same as yesterday - he needs stability and a minimum of innovations. He strives to sort everything out and systematize it. And even when climbing the career ladder, he prefers to do it not with a leap or a kick, but gradually, step by step.

In general, the main signs and properties of this accentuation can be listed as follows:

The epileptoid needs certain “rails”, given directions (which most often he considers “true and correct”)
- for an epileptoid, variability and choice can be difficult
- any deviations from previously accepted plans cause tension in him, even to the point of aggression
- the same tension before aggression is caused in him by any change in the rules and foundations in which he is accustomed to living (therefore, the vast majority of people who aggression against childfree, LGBT and others who in one way or another “do not fit into the standards” have epileptoid accentuation)
- contrary to established opinions, epileptoids are vulnerable and touchy
- in general, any order is extremely important to them: and how much this order will be generally accepted and how much will depend on their motivation will depend on their personal one.

Another distinctive feature of an epileptoid is persistence, often reaching the point of stubbornness. This becomes especially problematic if the peak on scale 6 is from 70T and above. Such a person insists on his own in such a way that those around him quickly begin to lose patience. Moreover, no logical arguments can convince him, because not only does he not like to change his point of view, but, as a rule, he is most often incapable of changing his point of view. By the way, perseverance differs from stubbornness in the same way as a scout differs from a spy. Stubbornness usually refers to the epileptoid accentuation of others, and persistence to one’s own.

Epileptoids have a rather specific learning ability. IN at a young age They make progress in their studies due to their phenomenal perseverance and orderliness of the learning process as a whole, which earns them the favor of the teacher. Although their mind is sometimes not “sharp”: they can neither quickly grasp nor comprehensively analyze. But on the other hand, they learn the curriculum from now on, and they also torment teachers with meticulous questions until everything is sorted into parts in their heads.
In adulthood, they can learn new things at work if their career directly depends on mastering this new activity. But the closer to old age, the more epileptoidism becomes an obstacle to learning, because here the reluctance to change point of view comes to the fore - especially under the influence of young people: an epileptoid usually reveres all sorts of traditions. And due to our traditions, the one who is older is the one who should command. For this reason, many elderly parents consider it shameful to learn new things from their own children (even if the children are already quite mature individuals).

One more thing can be said about the specifics of the epileptoid’s thinking. The greatest difficulty in the practical application of the acquired knowledge is that the theory gives a somewhat “discrete picture of the world”: in such and such a case there are such and such patterns, and in such and such, such and such. And everything between these points is not described specifically (because there can be quite a lot of intermediate options). So, the ability to practically apply the acquired knowledge also presupposes the ability to “analytically integrate,” or something like that, the existing theory, and to be able to describe intermediate states as a kind of “interpolation” of all, in this case, surrounding “discrete points.” And such “integration” is sometimes difficult for one person or another. Another simpler way is to attract each intermediate picture to the nearest “discrete point”, sometimes with great difficulty, and adjust it to fit it. And often such a problem (sometimes not only in the study of psychology) occurs in people with epilepsy and impulsiveness. More precisely, with the pronounced maladaptive qualities of these accentuations: with the desire to break everything down into “black and white,” plus to fix this black and white in certain places and become attached to certain rules.
Epileptoids are more often prone to such “template-discrete thinking” also because they do not take and do not strive to take on any responsibility - even when going up the ladder. career ladder, as strange as it may seem. They don’t seem to want to make any separate new decisions and options for action - this will be their private decision, for which they will have to bear responsibility. And so - they act “as is customary”, “as is correct”, moreover, and everyone, too, from their position, should act this way.

In general, scenarios are important for an epileptoid in life: “So that everything is as it should be.” Here a lot depends on what and how his parents and society “put” him. He also does not like freedom - for him it is only a threat to “go off the continued rails.” For these two reasons, an epileptoid often has problems in the intimate sphere (he has his own scenarios there, which his partner may not like).

It is not without reason that the epileptoid can be called “down to earth” - he is incredibly practical. At the same time, for him, the main values ​​are those that can be touched, held in hands, and felt. Even power becomes valuable to him when it gives materially tangible dividends. It is epileptoids who often evaluate people by the thickness of their wallet. They are the ones who are happy to carry out their own methodical planning and accounting of income and expenses (and even when the situation does not require this from them). Due to the lack of spontaneity, they really do not like surprises and surprises. And if they have already drawn up a work plan for the day, they will strive with all their might to ensure that this plan is fulfilled on all counts.

It is extremely difficult for an epileptoid to make any alternative decisions and choose workarounds: when he walks along his initially chosen rails, it is as if there is no other world and no other options around him: they often talk about something similar - “tunnel vision”. He knows nothing about possible other paths and rules, and often says that he doesn’t want to know. Even with a fairly broad outlook, his unconscious seems to force him to limit the area of ​​actual perception and focus on some individual aspects, making the rest insignificant. Such a person often goes towards his goal - as they say, “as if not noticing anything extraneous”; but really without noticing! This is what allows the epileptoid to concentrate and not be distracted: it’s like he has blinders on his eyes. It’s not that he refuses distractions and moments: he simply doesn’t notice them, ignoring them on an unconscious level.
But here there may be one of the significant ambushes for the epileptoid: due to such “tunnel perception”, he may not notice a problem that has arisen “on the way to the goal” if it arises from an “irrelevant area”, since his perception ignores these areas.

Another interesting point is the “willpower” of the epileptoid, or what is called such. It’s generally very interesting here: a person with epileptoid accentuation rides along his own rails, as if on a steam locomotive, and this locomotive - the power of his internal unconscious censorship stimuli and motives plus tunnel perception - takes him to this goal; but from the outside it looks as if the person himself is giving up everything extraneous in order to achieve his goal. Moreover, the epileptoid may not realize that he himself is not making conscious efforts, but is being moved by his unconscious, and blue eye says to someone: “Show willpower! That’s how I am!” But in essence it turns out like this: a person rides on a steam locomotive and says to another - “Why can’t you run at the same speed? I’m moving!”
And here again there is the other side of the coin: an epileptoid can be sincerely confident that he himself is so strong by his own will, and in “irrelevant areas” he can also rely on his will: but there it will most likely let him down, because it is by will, that is, he practically does not use conscious stimulation.

If the rigidity scale is above 80-90T, they speak of so-called paranoid readiness. That is, if such a person comes up with a certain idea, he will implement it, no matter what. Even if this is the idea that it is necessary, for example, to kill all children in white socks, or all “women of easy virtue” - like the well-known Chikatilo, who sincerely considered himself a “public orderly”.
Another example of such readiness is delusions of jealousy. The idea of ​​a husband’s (wife’s) betrayal possesses such a person completely. And in no way can you logically prove him otherwise. Even undoubted evidence of fidelity in his perception will become evidence of betrayal! As in the joke, when such a paranoid wife examines her husband’s jacket, and not finding a single hair of her mistress on it, says that “wow, the pervert - he picked up a bald one!” Living with such a jealous person literally becomes life-threatening - it’s worth keeping this in mind. And don’t hope to be able to convince him.

But if the accentuation on the rigidity scale is moderate (up to 70T), it can also become a means social adaptation. For such a person often has perseverance in achieving a goal and overcoming difficulties along the way. And with “off-scale” rigidity, a person can become a tangible problem for others, and he himself often says that “I don’t have problems with society, it’s society that has problems with me.”

Epileptoids reach significant heights in the army (especially in peacetime); they are also often successful administrators and leaders. And a rigid personality without pronounced demonstrativeness can be a good substitute and performer. Even taking into account the fact that almost any epileptoid still dreams of making this or that career - sometimes he is able to understand that, in principle, it is not profitable for him to overtake his boss if he takes his place over the boss’s head and generally jumps over him for one or another external reasons impossible. Then the epileptoid begins to push his boss higher and higher, to help his ascent, in order to rise exactly after him. Here we can recall the heroine of the same Kuprin’s “Duel”, who then physically could not become a general (because she was a woman), but did everything to become a general’s wife - it is clear that for this her husband must become a general. In general, there are a lot of such epileptoid women who “with outward self-denial” promote their husbands to the first persons in order to naturally become the wife of the first person.
However, the epileptoid-deputy may have a different line of behavior: if there is a certain opportunity, a certain chance that it is somehow possible to take the place of the boss, the epileptoid, especially a pronounced one, will most likely try to take advantage of this chance on the sly.

As for epileptoidism in sports, it is, of course, necessary. Especially where we are talking about some kind of results, which can be achieved not at once, but through systematic hard work in training. To organize such hard work, scale 6 is necessary, but in most cases it “belongs” not to the athlete himself, but to the coach. The coach describes the training regimen, the load, and makes sure that his impulsive ward does not violate the regimen and trains as expected. Therefore, by the way, conflicts between athletes and their mentors and transitions from one coach to another are not uncommon.
It is clear that if an athlete himself has at least a little epileptoidism, he is more likely to achieve long-term success.

As for emotional stability, it can be so difficult to get an epileptoid out of your mind! And if you really want, the weakness of the epileptoid is in the lack of lability of the entire psyche (again, what is called rigidity, or stuckness). Internal tension accumulates until, purely physically, it “overflows.” But it can accumulate for quite a long time compared to the same hysteria.

In general, the names of the MMPI scales were taken due to the external similarity of the forms of behavior of the subjects to the forms of behavior of people with diseases of the corresponding name. In particular, more about epileptoidism.
There is such a thing in medicine as post-traumatic syndrome (often develops after a brain injury with delayed consequences, with complete loss or severely limited mobility of one or another limb, etc....) It arises because a person needs to adapt again after an injury in the environment, taking into account their new limited capabilities - including through some additional systematization of their life.
For example, you need to take a spoon from the table. When a person has two healthy hands at his disposal, he won’t even think about how to do this. If he stands with his left side closer to the table, he will take the spoon with his left hand, if with his right side, he will take it with his right... Or the one that is more familiar. That is, all this will happen on an unconscious level, “automatically.” And if a person has, for example, a prosthesis instead of one arm, he already needs to think in advance about how and with what to take this spoon. And even how he should get up in front of it to take it. Or one step further - how can he approach the table in order to stand up so as to take a spoon... That is, much of what was previously done “as if on its own” now has to be planned in advance. Over time (and post-traumatic syndrome develops more strongly, the more severe the injury, but nevertheless, this is formed over the years) the traumatist develops an epileptoid accentuation - at least increased organization of life, sometimes to the point of boring.
If an analogy with a person’s lack of one or another previously automatically performed vital function is drawn in terms of injuries specifically to the brain, then it will be the same “limited capabilities,” only slightly different. Now I’ll move on to epilepsy.

There are different types of epilepsy: genuine (congenital, of unknown origin, presumably hereditary), post-intoxication (including alcoholic) and post-traumatic, which develops after serious brain injuries. In the case when an injury causes disturbances in the cerebral cortex such as scar changes, the transmission of nerve impulses in this area becomes “not entirely free”. Moreover, the failures are of a so-called synchronous nature.
What does it mean? In a healthy brain, all transmissions of impulses seem to be approximately evenly distributed - somewhere there is a regular surge, somewhere there is an equally regular decline in this transmission activity, but in total everything resembles a kind of “uniform, even noise.” And when some impulses suddenly begin to be produced “together”, and where this is not shown, and some increased bursts or increased declines in activity occur, this is already a failure. Well, let’s take the same muscles again for analogy. When you, say, hold an object in your hand, you cannot say that all the muscles of your hand are tense equally. Some muscle groups are more tense, some are weaker, some are completely relaxed - and due to the addition of all these tensions and relaxations, due to their asynchrony, it is achieved that you are holding some object in your hand, seemingly motionless (although at the same time, at least metabolic processes occur in the muscles). . If you decide to move this object somewhere with your hand, then some muscle group will tense even more, and another will relax, and due to this, the object will move with your hand. But even here the muscles do not work synchronously (that is, “either all groups relaxed at once, or all groups tensed at once”). And if there is just synchronization (that is, everyone relaxes at once, regardless of the need, or everyone tenses up at once) - then outwardly it will look like unjustified sharp contractions. That is, convulsive symptoms (epileptic seizure) appear. Such synchronization can be either in some part of the body or in the entire body.
When taking an electroencephalogram, neurologists are bothered by the emergence of some kind of unjustified synchronization of impulses in the cerebral cortex: this means that in these areas there are some dysfunctions that interfere with the holistic diffuse control of all processes.

And such dysfunctions, such disruptions in the functioning of the brain, essentially put a person with these symptoms in the same position as a trauma patient who does not have full control of some limb or some habitual function of the body: such a person cannot do everything that he needs . Because at some point a “failure to synchronize” will occur in the brain and prevent it from carrying out its plans. For example, he came to a disco, there he saw sharp flashes of light - and they caused him a malfunction in the transmission of nerve impulses. And he, for example, began to invite a lady to dance, bowed... and could not straighten up, and froze. And when he managed to straighten up, the lady had already left. This is just an example; there can be any number of “disruptions and frustrations” due to such a disorder of brain activity.
That is, a person with such malfunctions also cannot control himself in full. And after several frustrations, he also begins to “plan” his life - how he can use the “healthy part of himself” and protect himself from failures in the “unhealthy part”. Track when and why such things happen to him, avoid them if possible, etc. And in general - to calculate and plan everything: when and what he can do, and when and why (why) he can’t.

Thus, in a person who has episymptoms (that is, certain dysfunctions in the transmission of nerve impulses in the cerebral cortex), over time, “development of the psyche according to the epileptoid type” is formed. The foundations of which served as the basis for calling the presence of such outwardly similar forms of behavior in people who are healthy in terms of epilepsy “epileptoid” (where “…oid” is the essence of “similarity, resemblance”).

Psychasthenicity (anxiety)

MMPI test scale 7 (SMIL)

Earlier in the "Who's Who" section, accentuation was described as "Doubting type".

This accentuation, judging by its various descriptions, is considered almost defective in our society (which is not surprising, since impulsivity is the most common in our country as the antipode of psychasthenia). At F.B. Berezina calls this accentuation “Fixation of anxiety and restrictive behavior.” The psychasthenic has a need to predict and explore the situation many steps ahead, taking into account the likelihood of various events; and given this likelihood, it often includes some restrictions on behavior and decision making. And M.E. Burno called psychasthenics eternal losers - but it is curious that he cited Darwin as an example of a famous person with such an accentuation (!). Another famous scientist with “psychasthenic accentuation” is Hans Selye, who was actually a Nobel Prize laureate, so it’s very possible to argue about the “stigma of a loser” for every psychasthenic.

Many readers often literally reprimanded me: they say, “you single out psychasthenics, support them and love them, unlike other accentuations.” And here every time we have to explain that we often talk about the benefits and possibilities of psychasthenia, mainly because this becomes a kind of counterbalance to the information heard by a psychasthenic in reality: that, they say, this character trait is both flawed and provides a person with the status of an eternal loser, and deprives him of the opportunity to achieve something, and that in general a psychasthenic is immediately a defective person and cannot lay claim to anything. But in fact, the bearer of this accentuation can do quite a lot with his character, the only thing he needs for this is a working Adult (logic, analysis, intellect). More precisely, not quite so: the desire for analysis is in the blood of any psychasthenic; he only needs the internal ability to use it. And when, since childhood, he has been repeatedly slapped on the wrist - “Don’t be smart” - then sometimes he stops being “clever.” The Inner Adult goes underground, and adaptation difficulties begin. Actually, the Master Class was originally conceived, created and functions primarily as a group for didactic assistance to psychasthenics in adaptation.

We can briefly say that psychasthenicity is uncertainty in one’s own capabilities and in the stability of the situation (but precisely uncertainty, not anxiety). Or even shorter: psychasthenicity is caution.
As you know, impulsivity (scale 4) is the complete antipode of psychasthenia (scale 7). And if the “four” student reacts with lightning speed in almost all cases and, in general, one might say, “rushes like a tank” with his psychological sthenicity, then the “seven” student in this regard is slightly asthenic - slow, thoughtful... That is, psychologically asthenic. Hence the name itself - “psychic asthenia”.
Often, psychasthenics, oddly enough, are reproached for “lack of emotions.” However, a psychasthenic most often perceives emotions precisely as materials for subsequent analytical thinking (and often for introspection, soul-searching and self-esteem). He strives to obtain this knowledge from wherever possible, and is receptive to everything, to the entire environment, including his own feelings and reactions.

More about the uncertainty of psychasthenics: quite often this is called their eternal craving for additional information. The same Selye once said that when a person says “I know this for sure,” science stops and does not develop further. And a psychasthenic often looks “unsure” because he is always ready to add something new, additional to his knowledge, and therefore does not clearly rest on his current IMHO. the whole “alarming essence” of this accentuation is often a banal lack of information, which is why such people often look like “fools”: because they are constantly ready to learn. And the hierarchical system has its own laws: if you want to learn, that means you don’t know, that means you’re not the Boss, but the Fool. Here is the Chief - he knows everything. Even if it can be said about him that “his horizons have narrowed to a point that he calls a point of view.”

This is largely related to the same “imposter syndrome” that often happens among psychasthenics: “I pretend to be smart, but in reality I’m a fool.” Because of the “imposter syndrome,” psychasthenics often sincerely consider themselves failures. And no external credentials convince a person that he is smart if his internal censorship and life scenario over and over again label him a “fool.” But in fact, quite often a psychasthenic is envied, they are ready to follow him, etc. - but he himself usually knows nothing about it.

A psychasthenic character has a so-called “passive defense” in his character: under the influence of any aggression, he seems to “collapse.” If someone offends him, he won’t get into a fight either, but will quietly go aside and hide there so that they won’t touch him anymore. And such people, deep down in their souls, constantly need a strong protector - that’s why they are often drawn to impulsive individuals (both in communication and work, and in marriage and sex).

Another “innate” trait of a psychasthenic is the trait of a researcher. He constantly strives to look deeply into things and phenomena, to analyze not only external information, but also deep cause-and-effect relationships: “How and why it works.” This is why many psychasthenics feel that they “constantly lack knowledge” - despite the fact that this knowledge may already be greater than that of many other people. A psychasthenic rarely rests on something already studied and continues to gain more and more new information about certain things or phenomena. However, at the same time, he does not seem to actively seek to give away his knowledge, keeping it to himself (at least because, again, he doubts that “anyone is interested in it”).
But striving for multifaceted knowledge, a psychasthenic involuntarily encounters the phenomena of the “Aristotle circle” - when new points of contact with the unknown, opening new horizons, nevertheless give rise to new questions. Acquired knowledge, especially if it is difficult for a psychasthenic to systematize it, sometimes only multiplies his doubts, or even begins to “conflict” in his head. Thus, it turns out that it is psychasthenics who are most susceptible to a kind of “grief from the mind.”

The “anxiety of a psychasthenic” is expressed mainly in his preoccupation with tomorrow. More precisely, so that nothing terrible will happen tomorrow. It is the desire to be confident in a prosperous tomorrow that makes him be a forecaster, it sharpens his analytical qualities. But since he sees there are many options for the development of events and wants to analyze as much as possible - he is often not physically strong enough for this, and he still experiences uncertainty and doubts almost everything literally until the last minute.

Unfortunately, for now, a person with “innate tracker properties” quite often begins to be influenced by a society that is mainly geared towards hierarchy. Society turns the value system of such a child upside down and begins to actively belittle his achievements and abilities. It turns out that a person who has, say, the ability to think analytically, turns out to be a worse student than someone who is able to look, reproduce from memory and forget, without ever understanding the essence. Until now, in schools, the ability to “answer quickly” is valued much higher than the ability to “reason slowly.”

As a result, most children with psychasthenic accentuation, as a result of a complete loss of social orientation, develop the following attitude: “Do not act as your internal morality and logic tells you, but as is customary, as is considered correct: then you will not be beaten.” Let us also not forget that for a psychasthenic, being beaten (in one form or another) is perceived as especially painful due to his high sensitivity. But here it will be difficult to talk about the possibility of forming a “personal core”: at least until the psychasthenic has to cling to the existing external guidelines, even if they are obscure and less acceptable for him.

As a result, one of the most frequently asked questions to a psychotherapist is “what is the right thing to do in this or that case.” Despite the fact that the environment, as a rule, does not provide training on this topic. It is not always clear whether they will beat you for this or that action or give you candy: and sometimes candy for something that a person considers internally “wrong” is perceived as almost more traumatic than beating for an action that is internally felt to be “right” .

In a psychasthenic, a certain slowness of reaction occurs because there is a constant struggle of motives and options inside. And first you need to think, and only then shake. And many authors of classifications stubbornly deny psychasthenics the presence of " inner rod", because at least they don't see him.

But a psychasthenic is not against changes! He is against impulsive changes that lead to unpredictable consequences - for which consequences it is difficult for a psychasthenic to prepare. And if the consequences are analyzed and clear, and he himself is ready for them, a decision, sometimes quite original and unexpected, is made. Psychasthenics, again, are not against the very fact of change: they need the logical validity, necessity and safety of these changes! And “outwardly they look conservative” only because most often they are simply not motivated to interfere in any way in the society around them and in the environment in general.

"Unconventional thinking" (schizoid)

MMPI test scale 8 (SMIL)

Earlier in the "Who's Who" section, accentuation was described as "Non-standard type".

Speaking about non-standard thinking, it is necessary to start with what, in fact, are standards of thinking?
Most people, when communicating, one way or another “predict” the behavior of their counterpart, based on their own ideas - “I would be in his place.” And within the framework of generally accepted rules and generally accepted logic, these “forecasts” generally coincide. For example, you see that a person is in a hurry to rush through some door - say, running to the store. You, of course, expect that he, in a hurry, will “slip through” this door without stopping. And so you follow him, hoping not to linger at the entrance either. So, a “standard” person really won’t linger at the entrance - especially if he’s really in a hurry - even if his shoelace is literally untied at the door. A schizoid, in all his haste, may suddenly stop at the same door to tie his shoelace - or he will simply stand still for some reason of his own, known only to him. And you will come across both directly to him and to a sharp discrepancy between his behavior and your predictions.

Other individuals, tired of such “collisions” with schizoids, scold them and take offense at them, and mostly in the end they just try to stay away from them (most often, by explicitly or mentally twirling their finger at their temple). Thus, schizoids often find themselves in a kind of psychological isolation - at least in society they are known as strange people and difficult to communicate with.
However, if the schizoid’s non-standard nature is expressed in scores of approximately 70T, it completely allows him to find relationships with others. mutual language(even if not everywhere and not always), and most importantly - to solve standard problems using non-standard methods (where “standard drivers did not fit”) and find non-standard associations and comparisons in familiar situations and phenomena.

That. How a schizoid fits into the surrounding society can be illustrated with the following analogy. Imagine the well-known Lego constructor. It includes different parts with one common connection system, which allows them to be joined into various structures according to a single principle: dimples on one side, corresponding pimples on the other. All these details, regardless of their color and shape, can interact on this base. The standard of people is formed according to the same principle, allowing different people to communicate on the basis of some common generally accepted foundations and rules. And the basic principle of predicting the actions and reactions of the interlocutor in this case is the well-known “I would be in his place.” That is, even forecasting events, if used, is carried out exclusively according to standards.

Now imagine that the pile of Lego includes parts from another designer: maybe from an old Soviet one, maybe from a constructor of a different shape, or maybe even real construction parts in general: they may be more useful, but they don’t fit into the Lego system. And here you can imagine the problems of people whose internal algorithms differ from the algorithms of their counterparts (that is, the principle “I would be in his place” does not work).

And such a moment - standards can be different for each social environment. That is, in principle there cannot be standards common to all, all, all people, even the most standard people.

As a rule, a schizoid person has incompatible motives in behavior and perception. This happens to others, say, to a psychasthenic: he can rush, for example, between love and hatred, and never understand what he feels for a person - hatred or love? But the difference is that a psychasthenic still needs to make up his mind, and his tossing around gives him obvious discomfort, while a schizoid is quite capable of experiencing both at the same time. And don’t suffer at all from it.
Due to this “duality”, a schizoid, especially a highly accented one (70-80), is often equated with a mentally ill person, although he is not one. Here I must say a few difficult words about schizoidism and schizophrenia. Because it is often very, very difficult to determine the boundary between these two phenomena with visual contact. And the “division” between health and pathology in such cases is the so-called “minus symptoms”.
Mental illness, like a predator, literally gnaws out whole “pieces” from the human psyche, from human thinking and perception abilities, and in this place remains a “psychological unevenness,” which the average person often takes for “psychological non-standardism.” Because what is missing is not noticed. Only what remains is noticed, which, against the background of the absence of other skills, really “sticks out” as the individual’s originality. And vice versa: non-standardism within the framework of healthy schizoidism is sometimes diagnosed as a mental illness.

Imagine a schizophrenic whose specialty is, say, an engineer. The disease has “taken away” his ability to communicate (emotional dullness has arisen), the need to maintain household hygiene (therefore he takes poor care of himself), the ability to use surrounding objects (he is able to hold the same iron in his hands and not know what it is for), but professional skills have so far remained intact. And he can easily seem to “sensibly and consistently” talk about some professional things, while approaching them “originally and talentedly” - against this background, many listeners inexperienced in psychiatry will consider both his appearance and inability to use them to be “cute eccentricities”. household objects, and a certain emotional inhibition (at one time L. Bogdanovich wrote about such cases in “Notes of a Psychiatrist”).
And often - on the contrary: the inventor - a schizoid theorist, who is completely immersed in himself and his inner contemplation of the problem, is mistaken for a madman because he does not strive for communication, everything communicated to him falls on deaf ears, does not take care of himself (for this, in his there is simply no room left for his head), and taking the same iron in his hands, he takes a long time to figure out why it is needed... In the end he will figure it out, but the townsfolk have already branded him a “schizophrenic”, etc. For example, Tsiolkovsky in Kaluga is still called “our city madman” - largely due to the fact that with the money he had to feed his family, he was engaged in his research.

The issue of minus symptoms is not an easy one, and often even certified young psychiatrists get confused about it.
One can also recall schizis - splitting, fragmentation of thinking, but such fragmentation is visible as a sign of schizophrenia even when the disease is visible, as they say, with the naked eye. Especially when it comes to schizophasia (speech interruption).
In general, I’m talking about minus symptoms so that not every schizoid is labeled a schizophrenic...

Another example on minus symptoms, or why they are so difficult to notice. You probably have a certain set of items on your desktop, some of which you rarely use. And if one of these items disappears, you will not notice it right away - you will only discover it is missing when you need it. And this may not happen today or tomorrow. Moreover, the absence of your personal non-essential item may not be noticed by others.
In the same way, the absence of qualities and capabilities of the human psyche lost due to illness is noticeable when these qualities are in demand directly by the person himself or his environment.

Therefore, the question of how not to confuse a schizoid with a schizophrenic has been facing psychiatrists for a long time. Experienced doctors gradually even develop the so-called “schizophrenic feeling.” But alas, not everyone. And some, in order not to miss the “subject to treatment”, sin at the other extreme - overdiagnosis. When a schizophrenic "just in case" is called a borderline schizoid or a schizoid in general within the framework of "normal acknowledgment", especially an adapted one. The punitive psychiatry of totalitarian regimes was especially guilty of this - it was in its times that any more or less bright talent and generally dissident risked ending up "in a mental hospital" .

Continuing, so to speak, a near-psychiatric topic, I would like to highlight one more point regarding schizoidism: the so-called “split personality”.

The trouble is that in everyday life, for some reason, “split personality” is considered to be those internal monologues and dialogues that any adequate and thinking person uses. These internal dialogues-monologues are the verbalization of experienced sensations and thoughts, albeit silently (or even out loud). These are, if you like, the voices of your subpersonalities, and first of all, the voice of the inner Adult (logic, intelligence, analysis). Everyone who thinks needs such internal verbalization. And this says absolutely nothing about the “abnormality” and mental illness of a person.

But the overwhelming majority of adequate smart people, according to the well-known Dunning-Kruger effect, initially consider themselves “abnormal” (since they clearly stand out from the mass non-thinking “norm”). And when they catch themselves doing this kind of “internal talking,” they begin to panic: “Am I talking to myself? Do I have a split personality? Am I abnormal? Do I have schizophrenia?..”
Here we often have to recall the famous episode from the movie "Spring", with Ranevskaya:
"Who is she talking to? To herself. And who am I talking to? To myself. So, everything is fine!"

And “split personality” is a distorted term. In reality, this is called “split personality,” and consists in the fact that a person suffering from a mental illness can experience, say, two polar emotions at the same time.
Joy and sadness. Peace and anger. Disappointment and satisfaction. It often happens: the mouth laughs, but the eyes cry. Or: one half of the face is cheerful, the other is sad.

Here, too, attention: not sequentially two different emotions “with the whole person” (as in the situation “You don’t even know whether to rejoice or cry”), but simultaneously. Like two different people. And for the person experiencing it, as a rule, it is extremely unpleasant, uncomfortable, deprives him of his ability to work, and so on.

Actually, both schizophrenia and schizoid (external similarity) come from the word “schisis”, that is, splitting.
But when we talk about schizoidity, we are talking about mentally healthy people whose behavior and sensations outwardly resemble some kind of “schisis.” In particular, out-of-the-box thinking and actions, which are difficult for a “standard person” to predict.

The thinking of a schizoid is symbolic, iconic. Moreover, the symbols and signs are also non-standard. One schizoid girl sincerely believed that her fellow student “confessed his love” to her. When asked why she got it, she replied: “And when we were at the potatoes, we were eating there, and he offered me a radish. And it’s red and heart-shaped.” Like this. And the poor guy about his “love”, as they say, is neither a dream nor a spirit.

Moreover, a schizoid’s perception of real objects is often replaced by symbols. This is written very well in A.R. Luria’s book “A Little Book about Big Memory.”
Schizoids are not always immediately visible (due to the fact that they themselves are uncommunicative, and sometimes find themselves in psychological isolation), and therefore it seems that there are few of them. There are just enough of them, and they settle where the symbolic is needed, creative thinking- various fields of art and high technology.

By the way, it is not easy for a schizoid to communicate with others like himself: yes, they are all outside the standard, but each person has their own outside standard. These are hystericals with each other like fish in water: even their mutual hostility towards each other according to the principle of “two primaries in one theater” is also predictable by all of them and in general “understood” (“he doesn’t love me and I don’t love him either, that’s quite explainable and understandable, so everything is fine"). And schizoids in a circle of schizoids are also not always adapted. True, their advantage is that they ("judging by themselves") initially allow their counterparts to have difficulties in communication...
A schizoid is capable of recreating an entire model of a phenomenon from fragments of external information: as they say, he can imagine the entire forest from three trees, and, as a rule, quite accurately (because he does not need additional information and logical connections). Therefore, there are many schizoids among theoretical scientists. It is there that they make quite significant progress.
Again, in art, non-standard images and associations can also give a schizoid a head start over his fellow writers. Their creative worldview is not limited by standard boundaries and is able to see beauty in the most seemingly unsuitable things.

Schizoids were probably Malevich with his “Black Square”, Ciurlionis, Chagall, Kandinsky, Bosch... In general, in any work of a schizoid there is a deep meaning and a deep logic, not always understandable to others (unlike a schizophrenic, for whom, behind the external, excuse me, There is no point in nonsense: remember the Strugatskys’ poems in “Monday...” in the book “Creativity of the Mentally Ill”).

And by the way, it is famous schizoid scientists who become an illustration of the “absence of minus symptoms” - just remember the story about Einstein (an obvious schizoid!), who supposedly always wore the same sweater. And at the beginning of his creative career, when reproached that his clothes did not match the appearance of the scientist, he replied: “So what, no one knows me in this city anyway.” When he heard this reproach, having become an undoubted celebrity, he said: “So what, everyone here knows me anyway.” Agree, it is not without logic.

In general, a schizoid, whose brain is often loaded with internal contemplation and whose mind is simply physically insufficient for everyday worries, also has a classic suit - since this is customary in our society. He will put it on so as not to rack his brains. But only in this suit will he go everywhere: from business negotiations to friendly picnics. Then, his shirt will not always be fresh, which may well go along with some expensive cufflinks.

Schizoids are also quite sensitive, only, unlike psychasthenics, their sensitivity is selective.

For example, if a schizoid is a composer, he is able to discern the subtlest musical nuances, and will consider any falsehood in the music to be a personal insult. But for example, he will not be able to distinguish black caviar from red by taste (often he cannot distinguish it even by appearance). Or if a schizoid is a jeweler-cutter, he can distinguish a real stone from a skillful fake just by the visible play of light, but not understand the same music. And if such a cutter is presented with a piece of jewelry with fake stones as a gift, he may be mortally offended (despite the fact that the donor himself could well have been outright cheated).

Of course, each schizoid has his own area of ​​“offenses and non-offenses.” But the point is that he is capable of not reacting to an outright insult (like knocking on wood - no return), and to respond to words that seem to be completely unrelated to him (but unexpectedly found themselves in his area of ​​​​increased sensitivity) with a sharp insult. Why else did Dr. M.E. Burno, when working with schizoids, call them “wood and glass.”

As for the personal life and family of schizoids, some of them, in principle, actually find it easier to live alone. When no one reproaches you for the torn wallpaper, or for the socks on the table, or for a painting that is needed here for no apparent reason, etc. Quite often, girls come to men of this kind and gasp at the sight of their den: they say, “right now I’ll quickly tidy everything up, wash it, bring the owner into God’s form - he will thank me, he will understand that he cannot live without me, or even marry me.” . (Remember, as in the famous cartoon “Shrek”: “Of course, we will rearrange everything here, we will change everything, we will redo everything ...”) And they often run into a backlash - discontent and even expulsion from home. Because it seems to the girls that they helped, but in fact they encroached on the schizoid’s home as part of his personality, and specifically on his order and system.

But of course, there are schizoids who really need to have a loved one nearby. This is what they really most often have difficulties with. After all, as a rule, they themselves do not choose anyone - they are chosen: often hysterical (because the schizoid is so unusual, unlike others) or impulsive personalities (those simply, when the need arose, chose the first thing that came to hand).
And all this, again, regardless of gender.
But it is clear that further conflicts are very likely here.
And probably the best thing for a schizoid who really wants to start a family is to learn to choose for himself. First of all, perhaps, in terms of intelligence and sensitivity. In the end, there are people who are quite capable of discerning and appreciating the talent and inner world of a schizoid. History knows the “muses of creators” - however, there are so few of them that each of them has gone down in history...
And before starting a family, that’s why the schizoid is asked to adapt himself (at least during the adaptation it will become clear whether he needs something in this area, what exactly, and how to find it).
But again, the best adaptation program for each specific schizoid, alas, is developed during a personal consultation in the office.

The schizoid’s communication with the surrounding reality in general (and in particular with people) is unique, as is his entire “character.” Each person, reflecting the world around him, builds a certain model of it in his inner consciousness. So, a schizoid and a hysteroid (this is the “demonstrative” one) have fundamentally different models. The hysteroid is a mirror, it vividly and vividly reflects everything that it sees, and as a rule it sees only external manifestations, often without penetrating too deeply into the essence of things. The schizoid, on the other hand, strives to begin to understand the world precisely from this essence, but the “model” that he creates for himself in his imagination largely does not coincide with the real world. In his own world there may be a completely different logic, completely different laws, and this is his very room in which he sits, sometimes afraid in principle to stick his nose out. For he is afraid that he will be hit on the nose for his incomprehensibility, non-standardism and general “not-of-this-worldliness.” It is precisely because of the discrepancy between their own and real (roughly speaking, accepted by the majority) ideas about the world in general and about the “laws of communication” in particular that schizoids sometimes remain misunderstood, unaccepted, and suffer from this. And if they themselves have a need for communication, or even a slight demonstrative radicalism (and they also need at least a small, but still a whirlpool of events around them - not only with their participation) - internal tragedies cannot be avoided.

Trying to get at least a little closer to the current reality, the schizoid day after day “rebuilds” his model of the world, constantly thinking: where is it not similar to the real one? Sometimes such thoughts occupy almost the entire mental activity of a schizoid, and as a result he is the same real world, whom he observes “from his window,” increasingly “under-sees” and “under-recognizes.” Therefore, a demonstrative “translator” can provide him with significant help - a close person who will become for him a “mirror of reality” and a real “communication trainer”: he will not reproach him for mistakes (well, if only in a friendly way), he will understand incomprehensible expressions - moreover , the logic and communication style of a schizoid may well appeal to demonstrative people (that’s how fascinating it is, I’ve never seen anything like this, how interesting). Thus, in the eyes of such a friend, the schizoid becomes not “strange and crazy,” as others might say, but “an interesting and extraordinary person.” Plus ease of communication, when the outside world is learned not at the cost of one’s own mistakes, but with the help of a like-minded “translator.” Thus, calm comes to the tormented soul of the schizoid, the heavy burden of perception of reality falls from his shoulders, and in general he and his hysterical friend feel at ease, as if on a holiday.
But here another problem is likely: if a schizoid needs a “relay” to perceive his own (in that case) self-love, then this “relay” will gradually become the main person in his life. And without this friend, he will actually feel like he is again in a locked room, and even where all the windows are closed (a complete feeling of isolation from the outside world and sensory deprivation). By the way, this is one of those cases when the notorious psychological dependence arises. Moreover, it is clear that having many friends in reserve in this case will not work.
But what to do in such cases and how to try to avoid “internal tragedies” is a separate conversation. At a minimum, a schizoid is often helped by knowledge and analysis of where and how he gets into trouble - especially if he also has accentuation and psychasthenia. Psychotherapy of healthy people, then we will talk about the manifestation of mania (activity, hyperthymia, denial of anxiety) only in healthy people.

One of the excellent examples of this manifestation in literary characters is Nozdryov in Gogol. He is cheerful, active, always ready to communicate and enter into certain competitions. And the second example is Ostap Bender. In general, hyperthyms are lively, active individuals who easily become leaders. Moreover, they need leadership not for the sake of power, but for the sake of the opportunity not only to move forward themselves, but also to lead others at the same active pace.
And yet hyperteam absolutely does not know how, as they say, to rest on its laurels. Having achieved something, he already thinks about how to achieve something else further. Because for him, life is in motion.

And it seems that for now the hyperthymic personality is described entirely by positive epithets: active, confident, active, successful, and so on. However, quite often this turns into banal fussiness, disorder and lack of organization. The activities of hyperthyms can be unproductive and dispersed, and they also experience difficulties with long-term determination. It is difficult for them to do one thing for a long time and painstakingly, especially while sitting in one place. Monotony is always stressful for them. It is difficult for such a person to maintain the direction of his activities, and often he starts something and then gives it up. Therefore, around the hypertim, some kind of collective of subordinates “in the wings” often begins to form, who are precisely obliged to pick up and complete the implementation of his ideas while he produces new ones. Often, it is precisely for the sake of acquiring such a team that the hyperteam is forced to seek leadership positions.

And since such a person is not able to stand still for a long time, he has difficulties with analysis and forecast. He literally throws away all analytical moments, because “there is no time, we have to move forward!” And quite often a rake awaits him ahead. Or, in general, it’s commonplace that he turns off onto the wrong road and goes to the wrong “front” that he planned. And he discovers this only at the end of the movement.

Therefore, hyperthymic individuals can rarely adequately assess the consequences of one or another of their undertakings. For example, when founding a business, often all marketing and advertising policies are reduced to the fact that “everyone needs this, because it is understandable and visible to the naked eye.” And then it turns out that only one initiator needs “this” at the time of his activity. And everyone else doesn’t know how to get rid of him with his intrusive proposals.

Such individuals really deny, do not notice, ignore negative environmental factors or own state. If he happens to get sick, he can actually adjust himself in such a way that, for example, he will not feel an increased temperature, otherwise, under the influence of his specific unconscious perception, his temperature may indeed drop. But the processes that caused the temperature increase (for example) will not go away. Why is it often said about such people that they burned out at work?
But it’s more difficult when hyperthymic people not only manage to ignore health problems themselves, but also demand the same from others. It is especially difficult for the children of such a person: they are actually forbidden to get sick from an early age, and if they get sick, they will be accused of “thinking bad things” and even sometimes punished.

At first glance, accentuation on the ninth scale can sometimes be confused with accentuation on the fourth. Therefore, it is important to discuss their fundamental differences.

Firstly, one should distinguish between the quick reaction of an impulsive person and the high activity of a hyperthymic person. The difference, first of all, is that the peculiarity of the impulsive reaction is stimulus-response: an influence is received, it is almost immediately followed by a response. And hypertim performs some actions regardless of third-party influences. And by and large, he doesn’t need such incentives from the outside at all; he himself is the initiator of his actions. He is the first to get involved everywhere - in a fight, in business, in public affairs, and in everything else.

By the way, hyperthymic people, like impulsive individuals, do not like “long words.” But again, in different ways: if an impulsive person needs a short order in order to quickly switch to the mode of action, then the hypertim will rush the interlocutor to “speak briefly” in order to quickly switch to discussing some other topic. By the way, while talking, he may not move on to action at all.

But more often, it is precisely expressed hyperthymia that physically needs active actions (although perhaps not too orderly). It is about him that they sing in one children’s cartoon: “He must jump and jump, grab everything, kick his legs, otherwise he will explode: bang-bang - and he’s gone.”

The possible nature of this increased activity is interesting. In hyperthymia, especially in severe cases, in principle, all processes in the body, including physiological ones, proceed very quickly. Most often they have an intense metabolism, which is why most of them are not fat. But even if hyperthymia has a genetically determined, say, fullness and cannot be called thin, it will still be full, but not loose. A sort of elastic ball that, despite its size, is still active and agile.

It is important that the above-mentioned song talks about children: in fact, one of the names of the 9th scale - hyperthymia - is associated precisely with the name of a specific gland that functions in humans only in childhood. This is the thymus gland, or thymus.

Speaking about the fact that mania is the antonym of depression, it is important to mention the so-called phasic mood.
On the MMPI chart, most often there are “swings” on these scales: the ninth scale is up, the second is down, or vice versa. And here it is important to understand whether a person has a stable periodic change of such phases.

Strictly speaking, such a “phase change” is natural for almost everyone. In the stem part of the human brain there is a so-called reticular (mesh) formation - a special formation that sets the pace and rhythm of the brain, its “clock frequency”, if you like. However, in the human body there is no system that would control the constancy of this frequency (unlike silicon technology, a quartz stabilizer is not provided). And most often, the intensity of brain function fluctuates according to a sinusoidal law - but the amplitude and period of such fluctuations are different for each person.

If the amplitude is small, then, as a rule, the phase nature of the change in mood is invisible to the eye: the person seems completely stable. Noticeable amplitude jumps give visible fluctuations in activity and depression. And just during noticeable phases of mood changes, they talk about the so-called cycloidity (and if such a change creates personal problems, then about cyclothymia). The difference is precisely in the degree of compensation.

The period of mood swings can also vary. Most often, these periods are not so long that a person is forced to live his entire life in only one phase. And, knowing your cyclical mood, it can be convenient to effectively plan some important and active tasks.

Extraversion-introversion

scale 10(0) of the MMPI test (SMIL)

Previously, this accentuation was not included in the “Who is Who” section.

In theory, serial number This scale has 10, but it is called zero in order to preserve the “unambiguity” of the numbers (in the sense that all scale numbers consist of one sign).
This scale is tested both ways. Therefore, those descriptions that call it simply an introversion scale, I would say, are not entirely correct.

In the book “Methodology for Multilateral Personality Research,” statements on the 0 scale are divided into three aspects: “Character of thinking,” “manifestation of affect,” and social contacts.
In theory, the main difference between extroverts and introverts is the number of social contacts: an extrovert needs a lot, but superficial, and an introvert needs few, but deep.
Most people, if we ignore situational characteristics, can be called ambiverts: but with pronounced and very pronounced both extra- and introverts, everything is again not so simple.

This is a “decline” on a 0 scale (primarily not in relation to 50T, but in relation to other scales).
Extraversion in its essence (the severity, of course, depends on the degree of accentuation) is the ease of establishing contacts, and, more importantly, the same ease of refusing them. That is, an extrovert not only “has a hundred friends,” but easily changes them: he has “a high turnover of personnel” among his acquaintances.

Also, the property of a pronounced extrovert is a certain shamelessness (with great severity of accentuation - to the point of shamelessness).
An extrovert is easily able to impose himself on any company, and he is of little interest (unlike a hysterical person) in how the members of this group will perceive him and respond to him (in general, he often perceives the entire group as an integral phenomenon!). And what’s most curious is that he can seriously believe that this entire group is his friends.
In principle, he is of little interest in other people’s opinions (he, again, unlike the hysteroid, is often not even able to reflect other people’s emotions).
He communicates in a group with everyone at the same time, exchanging short phrases. And an extrovert suffering from intimate phobia can generally sit in a company and remain silent - it is enough for him that everyone else, the whole huge crowd, is talking around him.

Extremely pronounced extroverts, as a rule, have an “open house” - in the most literal sense, the door sometimes simply does not have time to close. Friends and acquaintances appear spontaneously and, most importantly, they leave just as spontaneously, and new ones appear in their place. And so on all day long. Why is it sometimes said that such a person “has not a house, but a passage yard.” And again, it is important not to confuse an extrovert with a hysterical person: if a hysteroid person comes to the house with a number of friends, he keeps them all in sight. Most often, he gathers them all around himself and talks about himself. And if one of them leaves earlier or stops appearing altogether, the hysterical person will be at least a little upset (after all, in his opinion, this friend “doesn’t like him anymore,” which is painful for him). An extrovert, having gathered a lot of guests (much more than a hysteria, because he does not need to keep them in sight at the same time), can go about his business, or get lost in their crowd. And if someone leaves, no problem; after all, his place among an extrovert will not be empty for long.

Long-term partner activity is difficult for a pronounced extrovert: precisely because of the ease and shallowness of social communication.
And another erroneous opinion is that extroverts are more socially stable. They often find themselves in a state of frustration, being sure that “I have a lot of friends,” but in a serious situation, none of these “friends” will come to the rescue: the contacts are shallow.

It is generally accepted that an extrovert is someone who wants to communicate with others, and an introvert who does not want to and is self-sufficient, can occupy himself and communicate with himself. Wrong! This legend has caused quite a lot of problems for introverts.
In fact, both of them need communication, only the extrovert has a huge circle of acquaintances (but, by the way, he usually does not maintain too deep relationships with anyone), and the introvert has one, maximum two close friends. And their loss is all the more terrible the more difficult it is for an introvert to make new, and equally close, acquaintances. Therefore, introverts often fall into various psychological dependencies, because they appoint one or two or three people to be the closest to them - and then, no matter what they do, they are afraid of the thought of parting with them and replacing them with others.

An introvert is not a “thing in itself”. As you know, any person is a “social animal”, and one way or another needs communication with his own kind, intimacy, friendship, “social realization and adaptation”. But some need it more, others need it less. Moreover, the degree of expression of this is not discrete, and even more so there are not two extremes - introvert and extrovert. The degree of intro- and extraversion is a kind of straight line between these two points, and depending on the distance from both extremes you “are”, you will have some extraversion and some introversion, but nevertheless both " qualities" will be present one way or another. And it is usually said that a person is more prone to introversion or extroversion.

And the peculiarity of a “more pronounced introvert” is not that he “doesn’t need to communicate” - it’s just different (especially if he is a hysterical introvert): he often wants to communicate, but not with a large number of people, especially to communicate closely. (By the way, someone who wants to communicate with a large number of people, but does not know how, and ends up sitting at home alone and suffers because he has few friends, is rather a maladjusted extrovert).

An introvert may well work normally in a group of people - but maintain a strictly official communication distance with them. He may not have such a large circle of “acquaintances”, from which he will choose one or two close friends. But an extrovert can more often consider as “close” everyone who comes into his field of communication, and “pour out his soul” to everyone without any complexes. And one more thing: if an introvert communicates closely with a person, then it is quite deep and very frank. And the outpourings of a pronounced extrovert, albeit extended, will be rather superficial.

After all, in fact, the main feature of introversion is not a refusal to communicate in principle, but the difficulty of establishing contacts and simply the inability to communicate superficially (with which the difficulty of communication is often associated). In particular, it is difficult for him, running past, to say hello to an unfamiliar person - if he asked someone about their health or asked “how are you,” it seems to him that he already owes something to this person. That is why his frequent reluctance to say “hello”, in contrast to the pronounced shy psychasthenic, is caused not by a doubt of what to say next, but by the fact that he does not want to say “hello” in the first place.

But at the same time, introverts urgently need, if you like, psychologically deep communication. To do this, he needs, albeit one, but a fairly close friend, whom he can call someday (once a year, say) and together talk about the same thing simultaneously... be silent on the phone.
Moreover, the introvert needs such a friend so much that he is ready to accept for him a person who is not so close to him. Tragedy occurs when an introvert sees this with his own eyes (although he refuses to notice it for a long time).

To combinations of accentuations

Orders of the “Electronic Doctor”
I want to be loved
I want to be a mother
I want to be a man Themes: impulsiveness, introvert/extrovert, hysteria (demonstrativeness), psychasthenia, psychological literacy, personality structure and qualities, character traits, schizoid, epileptoid.

© Naritsyn Nikolay Nikolaevich
psychotherapist, psychoanalyst
Moscow

SMIL test (mmpi). Answers and keys to questions.

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) is a technique created in 1940 by S. Hathway and J. McKinley at the University of Minnesota. MMPI is the most studied and one of the most popular psychodiagnostic methods over the past 50 years. It is widely used in clinical practice, as well as for diagnosing the degree of adaptation and identifying stable professionally important inclinations. In addition, the technique has already become widespread among psychologists, sociologists, teachers and doctors involved in family counseling, the study of personnel reserves, psychological compatibility, the problem of management, in sports psychology, as well as in law, in the army, in military and civil aviation, in system of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, in Employment Centers, in the field of general and higher education. In 1989, J. Graham, A. Tellijen, J. Butcher, W. Dahlstrom and B. Kammer published the MMPI 2, a new version of the questionnaire aimed at clarifying the nature of emotional disorders and eliminating the influence of gender differences. A modified version of the questionnaire is the SMIL test. Adaptation of the questionnaire was carried out at the Leningrad Psychoneurological Institute named after. V. M. Bekhtereva L. N. Sobchik and other psychologists who developed in 1971 a complete modified version - the SMIL test, 566 questions. (Standardized Multifactorial Personality Research Method).

The following are: instructions, 566 questions (male and female version), answer form, description of scales (main and additional), transcript, key to the SMIL 566 test - MMPI, processing of results, translation into walls, average normative data, interpretation (main scales and combination of scales), holistic assessment of the resulting profile, graphic representation. Test SMIL, L. N. Sobchik (MMPI):

Test SMIL, L. N. Sobchik (MMPI): Instructions.

You will be presented with a whole series of different statements. When evaluating each of them, do not spend a lot of time thinking. The first immediate reaction is the most natural. Read the text carefully, reading each statement to the end and assessing it as true or false in relation to you. Try to answer sincerely, otherwise your answers will be recognized as unreliable and the survey will have to be repeated. Deal with the questionnaire as if alone with yourself - “What am I really like?” Then you will be interested in the interpretation of the data obtained. It concerns only the characteristics of your temperament and describes your stable professionally important qualities. If your answer is “true”, then place a cross on the registration sheet above the corresponding questionnaire number. If your answer is “wrong,” then put a cross under the corresponding number. Pay attention to statements with double negatives (for example, “I have never had seizures with convulsions”: if I have not, then your answer is “true”, and, conversely, if this has happened to you, then the answer is “false”). Some statements in the questionnaire require you to “Circle the number of this statement.” In this case, the number corresponding to this statement should be circled on the registration sheet (these are statements that turned out to be ballast during the standardization process and are not included in the general automated calculation). If some statements raise serious doubts, focus your answer on what is supposedly more characteristic of you. If a statement is true for you in some situations and false in others, then choose the answer that is most appropriate at the moment. Only as a last resort, if the statement does not apply to you at all, you can circle the number of this statement on the registration sheet. However, an excess of circles on the registration sheet will also lead to unreliable results. When answering even fairly intimate questions, do not be embarrassed, since no one will read or analyze your answers: all data processing is carried out automatically. The experimenter does not have access to specific answers, receiving results only in the form of generalized indicators that may be interesting and useful for you.

QUESTIONS SMIL (MMPI) TEST. WOMEN'S OPTION

SMIL (mmpi) test scales. Basic clinical scales of the SMIL (mmpi) test.

Hypochondria scale (HS) - determines the “closeness” of the subject to the astheno-neurotic personality type;

Depression scale (D) - designed to determine the degree of subjective depression, moral discomfort (hypothymic personality type);

Hysteria Scale (Hy) - designed to identify individuals prone to neurotic reactions of the conversion type (using symptoms of a physical illness as a means of resolving difficult situations);

Psychopathy scale (Pd) - aimed at diagnosing a sociopathic personality type;

The masculinity-femininity scale (Mf) is designed to measure the degree of identification of the subject with the role of a man or woman prescribed by society;

Paranoia scale (Pa) - allows you to judge the presence of “overvalued” ideas, suspicion (paranoid personality type);

Psychasthenia scale (Pt) - the similarity of the subject with patients suffering from phobias, obsessive actions and thoughts is established (anxious-suspicious personality type);

Schizophrenia Scale (Sc) - aimed at diagnosing schizoid (autistic) personality type;

Hypomania scale (Ma) - determines the degree of “closeness” of the subject to the hyperthymic personality type; Social introversion scale (Si) - diagnostics of the degree of compliance with the introverted personality type. It is not a clinical scale; it was added to the questionnaire during its further development; Rating scales Scale "?" — a scale can be called conditionally, since it has no statements related to it. Registers the number of statements that the subject could not classify as either “true” or “incorrect”; “Lie” scale (L) - designed to assess the sincerity of the subject;

Reliability scale (F) - created to identify unreliable results (associated with the negligence of the subject), as well as aggravation and simulation;

Correction scale (K) - introduced in order to smooth out distortions introduced by the excessive inaccessibility and caution of the subject.

Keys to SMIL. Basic scales:

Lie scale L:
True 0.
Incorrect 15: 15 30 45 60 75 90 105 120 135 150 165 195 225 255 285
!!!(To pass the test, you must answer “YES” or “TRUE”)!!!

"Confidence" scale F:
Correct 45: 14 23 27 31 33 34 35 40 42 48 49 50 53 56 66 85 121 123 139 146 151 156 168 184 197 200 202 205 206 209 210 211 215 2 18 227 245 246 247 252 256 269 275 286 291 293
Incorrect 20: 17 20 54 65 75 83 112 113 115 164 169 177 185 196 199 220 257 258 272 276

"Correction" scale K:
Correct 1:96
False 29: 30 39 71 89 124 129 134 138 142 148 160 170 171 180 183 217 234 267 272 296 316 322 374 383 397 398 406 461 502
!!! (To these 29 questions, answer “TRUE” or “YES”, for reliability, to 1-2 questions, answer “NOT TRUE” or “NO)!!!

-----

Scale 1:
Correct 11: 23 29 43 62 72 108 114 125 161 189 273
False 22: 2 3 7 9 18 51 55 63 68 103 130 153 155 163 175 188 190 192 230 243 274 281

Scale 2:
Correct 20: 5 13 23 32 41 43 52 67 86 104 130 138 142 158 159 182 189 193 236 259
False 40: 2 8 9 18 30 36 39 45 46 51 57 58 64 80 88 89 95 98 107 122 131 152 153 154 155 160 178 191 207 208 238 241 242 248 2 63 270 271 272 285 296

Scale 3:
Correct 12: 10 23 32 43 44 47 76 114 179 186 189 238
False 47: 2 3 6 7 8 9 12 26 30 51 55 71 89 93 103 107 109 124 128 129 136 137 141 147 153 160 162 163 170 172 174 175 180 188 190 192 201 213 230 234 243 265 267 274 279 289 292

Scale 4:
Correct 24: 16 21 24 32 33 35 38 42 61 67 84 94 102 106 110 118 127 215 216 224 239 244 245 284
False 26: 8 20 37 82 91 96 107 134 137 141 155 170 171 173 180 183 201 231 235 237 248 267 287 289 294 296

Scale 5, for M:
Correct 28: 4 25 26 69 70 74 77 78 87 92 126 132 134 140 149 179 187 203 204 217 226 231 239 261 278 282 295 297 299
False 32: 1 19 28 79 80 81 89 99 112 115 116 117 120 133 144 176 198 213 214 219 221 223 229 249 254 260 262 264 280 283 300

Scale 5, for F:
Correct 25: 4 25 70 74 77 78 87 92 126 132 133 134 140 149 187 203 204 217 226 239 261 278 282 295 299
False 35: 1 19 26 28 69 79 80 81 89 99 112 115 116 117 120 144 176 179 198 213 214 219 221 223 229 231 249 254 260 262 264 280 283 297 300

Scale 6:
Correct 25: 15 16 22 24 27 35 110 121 123 127 151 157 158 202 275 284 291 293 299 305 317 338 341 364 365
Incorrect 15: 93 107 109 111 117 124 268 281 294 313 316 319 327 347 348

Scale 7:
Correct 38: 10 15 22 32 41 67 76 86 94 102 106 142 159 182 189 217 238 266 301 304 305 317 321 336 337 340 342 343 344 346 349 35 1 352 356 357 359 360 361
Incorrect 9: 3 8 36 122 152 164 178 329 353

Scale 8:
Correct 59: 15 16 21 22 24 32 33 35 38 40 41 47 52 76 97 104 121 156 157 159 168 179 182 194 202 210 212 238 241 251 259 266 273 282 291 297 301 303 305 307 312 320 324 325 332 334 335 339 341 345 349 350 352 354 355 356 360 363 364
Incorrect 19: 8 17 20 37 65 103 119 177 178 187 192 196 220 276 281 306 309 322 330

Scale 9:
Correct 35: 11 13 21 22 59 64 73 97 100 109 127 134 143 156 157 167 181 194 212 222 226 228 232 233 238 240 250 251 263 266 268 2 71 277 279 298
Incorrect 11: 101 105 111 119 120 148 166 171 180 267 289

Scale 0:
Correct 34: 32 67 82 111 117 124 138 147 171 172 180 201 236 267 278 292 304 316 321 332 336 342 357 377 383 398 411 427 436 455 473 487 549 564
False 36: 25 33 57 91 99 119 126 143 193 208 229 231 254 262 281 296 309 353 359 371 391 400 415 440 446 449 450 451 462 469 4 79 481 482 505 521 547

Rating scales (scales L, F and K) were introduced into the original version of the MMPI test in order to study the subject's attitude towards testing and judge the reliability of the study results. However, subsequent study made it possible to establish that these scales also have significant psychological correlates.

MMPI rating scales

L scale

The norm is 3-4 raw points.

8 and more - do not consider!

5-7 – tendency to embellish oneself.

1-3 – exhibitionism, inclined to show one’s defects.

The statements included in the L scale were selected to identify the subject's tendency to present himself in the most favorable light possible, demonstrating strict adherence to social norms.

The scale consists of 15 statements that relate to socially approved, but unimportant attitudes and norms of everyday behavior, which, due to their low significance, are actually ignored by the vast majority of people.

An increase in the result on the L scale will indicate the desire of the subject to look in a favorable light. This desire can beconditioned by situation, associated with the limited horizons of the subject, or caused by the presence of pathology.

Keep in mind that some people tend to punctually follow the established standard, always observing any, even the most insignificant rules of no significant value. In these cases, an increase in the result on the L scale reflects these character traits! Belonging to a professional group, from which, due to its specificity, an extremely high standard of behavior and punctual adherence to conventional norms is required, also contributes to an increase in the result on the L scale. This kind of high standard of behavior can be observed, in particular, among justice workers, teachers and in some other professional groups.

Because the statements that make up the L scale are used in their direct meaning, they may not reveal the tendency to look favorably when it occurs in individuals of sufficiently high intelligence and extensive life experience. If the results on the L scale are from 70 to 80 T-scores, the resulting profile seems doubtful, and if the result is over 80 T-scores, it is unreliable. High results on the L scale are usually accompanied by a decrease in the profile level on the main clinical scales. If, despite the high result on the L scale, significant increases in the level of the profile on certain clinical scales are detected, they can be taken into account in the totality of data available to the researcher.

F scale

The higher the F, the greater the distortion (not) intentionally, (not) consciously. A significant increase in the profile on this scale indicates accidental or intentional distortion of the study results.

The scale consists of 64 statements, which were extremely rarely regarded as “true” by persons included in the normative group of healthy subjects, which was used to standardize the methodology of multilateral personality research. At the same time, these statements rarely differentiated the normative group from the groups of patients against whom the main test scales were validated.

Statements included in the F scale relate, in particular, to unusual thoughts, desires and sensations, overt psychotic symptoms, and those whose existence is almost never recognized by the patients being studied.

If the F scale profile exceeds 70 T-scores, the result is questionable, but can be taken into account when confirmed by other, including clinical, data. If the F-score result exceeds 80 T-scores, the study result should be considered unreliable. This result may be caused by technical errors made during the study.

In cases where the possibility of error is excluded, the unreliability of the result is determined by the attitude of the subject or his condition. During attitudinal behavior, the subject may lay out cards without any connection with their meaning (if he seeks to avoid research) or recognize as true statements concerning unusual or clearly psychotic phenomena (if he seeks to aggravate or simulate psychopathological symptoms).

An unreliable result associated with the patient’s condition may be observed in an acute psychotic state (impaired consciousness, delirium, etc..), which distorts the perception of statements or the reaction to them.

A similar distortion can be observed in cases of severe psychotic disorders leading to a defect.

A dubious or unreliable result can be obtained from anxious individuals in cases where an urgent need for help prompts them to give considered answers to most statements. In these cases, simultaneously with an increase in the result on the F scale, the entire profile increases significantly, but the shape of the profile is not distorted and the possibility of its interpretation remains. Finally, changes in the subject’s attention can lead to an unreliable result, as a result of which he makes mistakes or cannot understand the meaning of the statement. If an unreliable result is obtained, in some cases it is possible to increase the reliability of the study through retesting. In this case, it is more advisable to repeatedly present only those statements for which the responses taken into account were received. If the result of repeated testing is unreliable, you can try to establish the reason for the distortion of the result by discussing his answers with the subject. To avoid breaking contact with the subject, it is necessary to obtain his consent to such a discussion.

With a reliable result of the study, a relatively high profile level on the F scale (deviation from the average by 1.5-2 s) can be observed in various types of non-conforming personalities, since such individuals will detect reactions that are not typical for the normative group and, accordingly, give answers more often, taken into account on the F scale. Violation of conformity may be associated with the originality of perception and logic, characteristic of people of a schizoid type, autistic and experiencing difficulties in interpersonal contacts, as well as with psychopathic traits in people prone to disordered (“bohemian”) behavior or characterized by pronounced a feeling of protest against conventional norms.

An increase in the profile on the F scale can be observed in very young people during the period of personality formation in cases where the need for self-expression is realized through non-conformity in behavior and views. Severe anxiety and the need for help are also usually manifested in a relatively high level of result on the described scale.

A moderate increase on the F scale (deviation from the average by 1.0-1.517) in the absence of psychopathological symptoms usually reflects internal tension, dissatisfaction with the situation, and poorly organized activity. The tendency to follow conventional norms and the absence of internal tension determine the low result on the F scale.

In clinically undoubted cases of the disease, an increase in the profile on the F scale correlates with the severity of psychopathological symptoms.

K scale

The norm is 50-70 B. Below 50 B – “I am for myself”, exhibitionism. Self-disclosure is incommensurate with the situation. 50-70 – “I am for my family”, open in proportion to the situation. Above 70 B – “I am what I want.” The subject is closed, inclined to hide behind the opinion of the majority.

The scale consists of 30 statements that make it possible to differentiate between individuals who seek to soften or hide psychopathological phenomena and individuals who are overly open. In the original version of the MMPI test, this scale was originally intended only to study the degree of caution of subjects in a testing situation and the tendency (largely unconscious) to deny existing unpleasant sensations, life difficulties and conflicts. In order to correct the motion sickness tendencies, the result obtained on the K scale is added to five of the ten main clinical scales in the proportion corresponding to its influence on each of these scales.

To the greatest extent, this tendency affects the results obtained on scales 7 and 8, and therefore the primary result on the K. scale is added in full to the primary result obtained on these scales. To a lesser extent, it affects the results obtained on scales 1 and 4, therefore, when correcting, 0.5 is added to the primary result obtained on the first scale, and 0.4 of the primary result on the K scale is added to the result obtained on the fourth scale.

This tendency least affects the result obtained on the 9th scale; during correction, 0.2 of the primary result on the K scale is added to the primary result on this scale.

The results obtained on the remaining scales do not show any natural changes depending on the result on the K scale and therefore are not corrected in the described manner. However, the K scale, in addition to its significance for assessing the test subject’s reaction to the testing situation and correcting results on a number of basic clinical scales, is also of significant interest for assessing certain personality traits of the subject.

Individuals with high scores on the K scale usually determine their behavior depending on social approval and are concerned about their social status. They tend to deny any difficulties in interpersonal relationships or in controlling their own behavior, strive to comply with accepted norms and refrain from criticizing others to the extent that the behavior of others falls within the framework of the accepted norm.

Clearly non-conforming, deviant; from traditions and customs, the behavior of other people that goes beyond the conventional framework causes a pronounced negative reaction in persons who give high scores on the K scale. Due to the tendency to deny (to a large extent at the perceptual level) information indicating difficulties and conflicts, these individuals may not have an adequate idea of ​​how others perceive them.

In clinical cases, an expressed desire to achieve a favorable attitude towards oneself may be combined with anxiety and uncertainty. With insignificant expression (moderate increase in the profile on the K scale), the described tendencies do not disrupt the individual’s adaptation, but even facilitate it, causing a feeling of harmony with the environment and an approving assessment of the rules accepted in this environment. In this regard, individuals with a moderate increase in profile on the K scale give the impression of being prudent, friendly, sociable, and having a wide range of interests. Extensive experience in interpersonal contacts and denial of difficulties determine in individuals of this type a more or less high level of enterprise and the ability to find the right line of behavior. Since such qualities improve social adaptation, a moderate increase in the profile on the K scale can be considered a prognostically favorable sign.

Individuals with a very low profile on the K scale are well aware of their difficulties and tend to exaggerate rather than underestimate the degree of interpersonal conflicts, the severity of their symptoms and the degree of personal inadequacy. They do not hide their weaknesses, difficulties and psychopathological disorders. The tendency to be critical of oneself and others leads to skepticism. Dissatisfaction and a tendency to exaggerate the significance of conflicts make them easily vulnerable and create awkwardness in interpersonal relationships.

Index F-K. (based on raw points) Required for conclusion.The main indicator of reliability.

Husband. -18 +4

Women -23 +7

Since the trends measured by the F and K scales are largely in opposite directions, the difference in the primary result obtained on these scales is essential for determining the subject’s attitude at the time of the study and judging the reliability of the result obtained.

The average value of this index in the method of multilateral personality research is -7 for men and -8 for women.

Intervals at which the obtained result can be considered reliable (if none of the rating scales exceeds 70 T-scores), make up

for men from -18 to +4,

for women from -23 to +7.

If the F -K difference is from +5 to +7 for men and from +8 to +10 for women, the result seems doubtful, however, if confirmed by clinical data, it can be taken into account provided that none of the rating scales exceeds 80 T-points.

The greater the difference F - K, the more pronounced the test subject’s desire to emphasize the severity of his symptoms and life’s difficulties, to evoke sympathy and condolences.

A high level of the F - K index may also indicate aggravation.

A decrease in the F - K index reflects the desire to improve the impression of oneself, mitigate one’s symptoms and emotionally charged problems, or deny their presence.

A low level of this index may indicate dissimulation of existing psychopathological abnormalities.

Neurotic triad scales

The scales located in the left half of the profile - first, second and third, in the literature on the MMPI test, are often combined with the term “neurotic triad”, since an increase in the profile on these scales is usually observed in neurotic disorders. Neurotic reactions are associated with the insufficiency of the individual’s physical and mental resources to implement motivated behavior in a certain situation. The blockade of motivated behavior aimed at satisfying current needs, which underlies neurotic phenomena, is usually designated by the term “frustration.” In the formation of neurotic disorders, the greatest pathogenic significance is not real obstacles that interfere with the satisfaction of an actual need, but the impossibility of realizing motivated behavior due to the presence of needs that are comparable in strength, but differently directed. In this case, maladaptive behavior associated with the difficulty of choosing one of the simultaneously existing and competing programs is an expression of intrapsychic conflict.

A rise in profile on neurotic scales can be caused by any of three possible types of conflict: the need to choose between two equally desirable possibilities; the inevitability of a choice between two equally undesirable possibilities or the necessity of a gift between achieving what you want at the cost of unwanted experiences and giving up what you want in order to avoid it. these experiences. However, the nature of the profile is determined not by the type of conflict, but by the degree of participation in the formation of the command of intrapsychic adaptation mechanisms and the nature of these mechanisms, which ultimately determine the clinical picture of neurosis.

The profile on the scales of the neurotic triad and the severity of its rise on the 7th scale quite accurately reflect the nature of neurotic syndromes. It is also important to take into account the ratio of the results obtained on these scales and on other profile scales.

It should be noted that the term “neurotic triad” reflects only the high value of these scales for the study of neurotic types of reactions, but in no way excludes an increase in the profile on these scales in combination with other profile scales) in other forms of pathology.

If the profile peaks do not go beyond the boundaries of normal fluctuations, they characterize certain forms of normal mental reactions.

First MMPI scale.

Somatization of anxiety The 1st scale in a modified version was called the “neurotic overcontrol” scale. The former name is the "hypochondriasis" scale.

At high levels - above 70T - this scale reveals a painful focus on one’s well-being, and with a moderate increase - increased self-control in a hypersocial person, characterized by fairly high ambition, which conflicts with the increased need to comply with generally accepted standards and the stereotype of socially acceptable forms of existence.

In combination with elevated scales 2 and 3, scale 1 is included in the so-called neurotic triad, which is characteristic of neurotic and neurosis-like disorders.

A single peak on the 1st scale with low indicators of depression and anxiety with an increased 8th (individuality scale, in the old version - schizophrenia) occurs in the hypochondriacal form of schizophrenia. A rise in the profile on the first scale occurs if the subject relates anxiety to the state of his physical health, and reflects the severity of the hypochondriacal tendency:

The scale contains 33 statements related to basic somatic functions. The statements are formulated mostly vaguely, which makes it possible to identify the individual reaction of the subject, the emotional significance for the subject of his somatic sensations and increased attention to the state of his physical health. These statements are not related to any one function or specific system of the body, but relate to general well-being, performance, complaints about disorders of the somatic functions of digestion, cardiac activity, etc.), pain and unusual sensations. These are, for example, statements: “Most of the time you feel general weakness”, “You are often bothered by pain in the heart and chest” (the typical answer is “true”) or “In last years You felt generally good” (typical answer “false”). Since the expressions “most of the time”, “often”, “mostly” used in such statements are vague, the test subject’s reaction reflects the significance of the mentioned sensations for him, the intensity of the desire to draw the researcher’s attention to them, and the general assessment of his health. Adding 0.5 of the initial result obtained on the K. scale to the result obtained when presenting statements included in the first scale allows one to correct the subject’s reluctance to complain about a somatic pathology that is obvious to him or the subject’s insufficient awareness of the significance of his somatic sensations for him.

Concern about the state of one's physical health, which arises against the background of a high level of anxiety and is expressed by a rise in the profile on the first scale, is initially usually based on sensations reflecting cardiovascular disorders associated with anxiety (for example, palpitations, compression in the heart area, pain in this area ), gastrointestinal symptoms, muscle and joint pain. Anxiety is thus somatized, it becomes concrete and a system of its interpretation is created, since the feeling of threat is transferred from interpersonal relationships to the processes occurring. in one’s own body, in particular, to unpleasant physical sensations reflecting anxiety-related changes in vegetative-humoral regulation. At the same time, there is a decrease in the level of anxiety and the feeling of an uncertain threat. Initially, increased attention to oneself, which determines such transference, is combined with insufficient ability to control one’s emotions.

Even with relatively small rises in the profile on the first scale, a tendency to complaints is revealed, and with pronounced peaks, constant concern about one’s physical condition, pessimism and disbelief in success, especially in relation to medical care. One’s own somatic state becomes an object of careful study, during which special terminology can be created to designate certain sensations. Even if the initial preoccupation with one’s physical condition is associated with a real-life somatic pathology, the further development of the condition in individuals with a pronounced peak on the first scale is characterized by the same long-term, careful self-observation and the formation of an explanatory concept of their disease. Absorption of attention by one's own somatic processes leads to high resistance of behavior in relation to external influences, which others usually describe as intractability and stubbornness. These qualities, the presence of one’s own concept of the disease and skepticism regarding the effectiveness of medical interventions are very strong. make therapy difficult, especially psychotherapy. Hypochondriacal tendencies, which determine the dominant rise on the first scale in the profile of the methodology for multilateral personality research, are heterogeneous. This type of profile can be observed in two groups of subjects.

Most often, the occurrence of a rise in the profile on the first scale is observed in anxious individuals, especially in the presence of constitutional traits that determine the relative ease of occurrence and severity of the autonomic component of anxiety reactions. In these cases, the appearance of a profile peak at first the scale is usually preceded by a profile with a leading second scale. The severity of the peak on the first scale reflects not only the significance for the subject of certain somatic sensations, but also the emergence of a tendency to the emergence of new sensations, often plastically spreading and changeable. A senestopathic mode of sensations arises. The basis of the patient’s idea of ​​the disease is the need to explain the ever-increasing number of sensations and the overvalued attitude that arises on this basis to one’s somatic condition (“hypochondria of explanation”).

An increase in the profile on the first scale can also be observed, although less frequently than in anxious subjects, in rigid individuals, characterized by increased stability of affectively intense experiences and the emergence on this basis of difficult-to-correct concepts. In these cases, often even a slight (especially repeated) malaise as a result of the affective intensity of the experience becomes a source of long-term ideational processing. The leading role in such conditions is played not by senestopathic sensations, but by their interpretation. Once a rigid concept has arisen, it does not require constant sensory reinforcement for its existence. The profile map on other scales allows you to differentiate these personality types, but in both cases, the increase in the profile on the first scale can increase as a result of the “swinging” described by K., Leonhard - an alternating presentation of a favorable and unfavorable outcome of the situation, a change in confidence in the presence of physical suffering, dangerous or even incurable, with the hope that there is no such disease.

It should be noted that in the anamnesis of persons with a pronounced profile peak on the first scale, there are often situations that contribute to such a swing, mainly repeated medical examinations with conflicting medical opinions. In these cases, the strengthening of the hypochondriacal tendency gives rise to new sensations, which, intensifying the initial anxiety, serve as an object of analysis and the basis for a further increase in fears associated with the possibility of a serious illness. Such an increase in fears can also arise as a result of iatrogenics, careless statements by doctors or medical personnel that create or intensify the feeling of threat.

Thus, an increase in the profile on the first scale reflects the somatization of anxiety, carried out not directly, as is the case with demonstrative personalities, but through the intrapsychic processing of vegetative manifestations associated with anxiety.

An increase in the profile on the first scale can sometimes also occur in people who widely declare the possibility of developing or having dangerous or incurable diseases (cancer, leukemia, etc.), without contacting doctors and without making any attempts at examination and treatment. In these cases, a decrease in the level of anxiety is achieved, strictly speaking, not through somatization, but through the observance of a certain ritual, which should prevent a possible threat.

To characterize personality characteristics, the ratio of the results obtained on the first scale and on K scale If a significant (or even large) part of the primary result that determines the peak of the profile on the first scale is obtained not due to this scale itself, but due to correction (i.e. adding 0.5 of the primary result obtained on the K. scale), then we can talk about the presence of increased anxiety about the state of one’s physical health combined with a reluctance to make complaints about somatic pathology. In the event that the peak of the profile on the first scale is formed mainly due to correction and does not go beyond 70 points or slightly exceeds these limits, there may be not so much concern about health itself, but rather the organization of behavior focused on caring for it (special mode , diet, etc.).

Persons with low level profiles on the first scale are not concerned about the state of their health, are more active and energetic and, other things being equal, more successfully resolve their difficulties using more adaptive forms of behavior.

The group by which the validity of the scale was determined consisted of patients whose psychopathological symptoms were determined by the phenomena of senestopathic hypochondria, overvalued ideas of illness, or obsessive doubts about their somatic health. The average profile of the method of multilateral personality research in hypochondriacal syndrome was characterized by the most pronounced increase in the profile on the first scale, less pronounced on the second and third scales and a second increase on the right side of the profile, mainly on the seventh scale, reflecting psychasthenic tendencies. Differences in psychopathological symptoms also determine different profile options. The profile of patients with senestopathic hypochondria was closest to the average profile of the entire group. The presence of theatrical behavior, usually combined with emotional immaturity and egocentrism, corresponded to a higher level than in the average profile, rise on the third, obsessive hypochondriacal doubt - on the seventh scale and in case of severe depressive symptoms raising the profile to the second scale was almost as pronounced as on the first.

Second scale.

Anxiety and depressive tendencies. 2nd scale - “pessimistic” scale. Its old name is the “depression” scale. At high levels, it really reflects the extreme degree of pessimism - depression, but at a moderate increase, the term “pessimism” is more convenient when describing the characterological characteristics of a normal person or an accentuated personality.

The main motivational orientation of the individual with the leading peak on the 2nd scale is avoidance of failure. Individuals of this type are characterized by a high level of awareness of existing problems through the prism of dissatisfaction and a pessimistic assessment of their prospects, a tendency to think, inertia in decision making, a pronounced depth of experience, an analytical mindset, a verbal type of thinking, and some self-doubt. Personalities whose profiles are accentuated on the 2nd scale are “melancholic” according to Gannushkin, “inhibited” according to Leonhard and Lichko, “sad people” according to Dikaya, “sensitive-introverted” according to ITO.

The affiliative need, that is, the need for understanding, love, and a friendly attitude towards oneself, is one of the leading ones, never fully saturated and at the same time primarily frustrated, which largely determines the zone of psychotraumatic influence. The defense mechanism is refusal of self-realization and strengthening of consciousness control.

An increase on the 2nd scale in the absence of complaints characteristic of depression occurs within the framework of larved (hidden, “smiling”) depression. High scores on the 2nd with concomitant double pike on the 7th and 8th The scales reveal a psychasthenic personality type with scores of 65 - 75T, and with higher scores the profile reflects anxiety-depressive syndrome and signs of chronic socio-psychological maladjustment. A high peak on the 2nd scale - 90T and above - is characteristic of severe clinical depression. At the same time, the accompanying increase 7th scales higher 8th can most likely be attributed to a psychogenic disorder close to a reactive state. If the 8th prevails over the 7th and is close to the scores of the 2nd scale, then an endogenous process should be suspected. In this case, the results of experimental psychological research aimed at identifying disorders in the mental sphere will play a decisive role.

High indicators of the 2nd scale at low 9th(scale of "optimism") and related pike on the 4th(the “impulsivity” scale) should alert the doctor or psychologist regarding the patient’s possible suicidal intentions (!).

The dynamics of the SMIL profile during therapy, and especially psychotherapy, mainly affects the indicators of the 2nd scale. It is advisable to start considering the clinical scales of the test with the second scale, since it best reflects the severity of anxiety. Anxiety, arising as a subjective reflection of disturbed psycho-vegetative (neuro-vegetative, neuro-humoral balance), serves as the most intimate mechanism of mental stress and underlies most psychopathological manifestations.

The 60 statements that make up the second scale relate to such phenomena as internal tension, uncertainty, anxiety, decreased mood, low self-esteem, and pessimistic assessment of the future. This enumeration makes clear the pronounced increase in the profile on the scale under consideration in both anxiety and depression. For example, individuals who exhibit these phenomena typically respond “true” to the statements: “You definitely lack self-confidence”; “You are often overcome by dark thoughts,” and the answer is “false” to the statements: “Compared to most people, you are quite capable and smart”; “5 you believe that in the future people will live much better than now”; “When the weather is good, your mood improves.” The nature of the profile is usually calledHelps differentiate the predominance of anxiety or depression.

Isolated and moderate increase in profile level on the second scale and the absence of simultaneous decline to ninth usually indicate anxiety more than depression. Clinically, anxiety is manifested by a feeling of an uncertain threat, the nature and (or) time of occurrence of which cannot be predicted, diffuse fears and anxious anticipation.

However, anxiety itself is a central, but not the only element in the group of disorders, the study of which has made it possible to formulate ideas about the phenomena of the anxiety series and the occurrence of each of which causes an increase in the profile on the second scale. The least pronounced disorder of this series is a feeling of internal tension, readiness for the occurrence of some unexpected phenomenon, which, however, is not yet assessed as threatening. An increase in the feeling of internal tension often leads to difficulty in isolating a signal from the background, that is, in differentiating significant and insignificant stimuli (hyperesthetic phenomena). Clinically, this is expressed by the appearance of an unpleasant emotional connotation of previously indifferent stimuli. “Further increase in the severity of anxiety disorders leads to the emergence of anxiety itself (free-floating anxiety, vague anxiety), which is usually replaced by fear, i.e., a feeling of no longer vague, but a specific threat), and in even more pronounced cases, a feeling of the inevitability of an impending catastrophe.

An extreme manifestation of anxiety is anxious-fearful arousal, in which it is usually not possible to conduct a psychodiagnostic study. Accordingly, the anxiety series, in order of increasing severity, includes the following phenomena: a feeling of internal tension - hyperaesthetic reactions - anxiety itself - fear, a feeling of the inevitability of an impending catastrophe - anxious-fearful excitement. Each of these disorders leads to increase profile On the second scale. The change in disorders included in this series is manifested mainly in the degree of increase in the profile on this scale, which, due to its mobility, can serve as a very accurate indicator of the severity of the feeling of trouble and threat.

An isolated peak in the profile on the second scale, which arose as a reflection of anxiety, is usually not constant; upon repeated testing, either the disappearance of this peak is detected, or rises are also noted on other scales of the profile. This may be due to the fact that pronounced disturbances in mental and physical homeostasis, which characterize the phenomena of anxiety, cause the activation of mechanisms that ensure its minimization or elimination. Since anxiety arises in connection with a violation of the established unity of needs and the stereotype of behavior aimed at satisfying these needs, its elimination can occur, firstly, if the environment changes, and, secondly, if the individual’s attitude to a non-changing environment changes (reorientation). In the first case, i.e., in the case when anxiety is eliminated with the help of effective behavior that ensures the cessation of frustration due to changes in the environment (heteroplastic adaptation), the peak of the profile on the second scale also disappears. In the second case, when anxiety is eliminated by turning on the mechanisms of intrapsychic adaptation, then, depending on the nature of these mechanisms, the shape of the profile will change as the indicators on other scales change. At first, the initial rise in profile is usually maintained on the second scale, which subsequently disappears if the anxiety is effectively eliminated. The peak of the profile on the second scale, however, remains if anxiety is eliminated while depression increases. At the physiological level, the elimination of anxiety as depression deepens can be considered as the elimination of generalized activation and pronounced disturbances of homeostasis due to the inclusion of ancient mechanisms of autonomic regulation, which reduce the level of autonomic fluctuations through a general decrease in activity in conditions of insufficiency of differentiated autonomic regulation.

The study of the biochemical mechanism of this phenomenon made it possible to discover, in particular, the activation by glucocorticoids, the level of which increases with anxiety, of the enzyme tryptophan lyrrolase, and therefore tryptophan metabolism is directed along the kynurenine pathway. Due to this, the level of serotonin synthesis decreases, the deficiency of which plays a pathogenetic role in the development of depression. A study of the dynamics of catecholamine metabolism during the change from states of anxiety to depressive states (devoid of an anxiety component) made it possible to establish that as depression develops, the increase in processes of synthesis of catecholamines (especially norepinephrine) characteristic of the period of anxiety and a slowdown in their metabolism are replaced by a slowdown in synthesis and acceleration of metabolism. Thus, research on the humoral correlates of anxiety also indicates a decrease in the intensity of anxiety as depression increases.

Since depressive syndrome is accompanied by a decrease in the level of motivation, depression at the psychological level can be considered, in particular, as the eliminationanxiety-causing frustration by reducing the level of motivation due to the devaluation of the original need. When anxiety changes to depression, the profile is usually down to ninth scale, and the increase in profile on the second scale and the depth of the decline on the ninth are greater, the more pronounced the loss of interests, a feeling of indifference, difficulties in interpersonal relationships, lack of motivation for activity, suppression of drives. In classic depression not accompanied by anxiety, the depth of the decrease in the profile on the ninth scale in relation to the average level of the profile usually corresponds to the magnitude of its increase on the second, however, very low T-scores on the ninth scale allow one to speak of depression even in cases where the peak on the second scale is relatively not tall. In this case, we are talking primarily about anhedonic depression.

Individuals who score primarily high on this scale are usually perceived by others as pessimistic, withdrawn, silent, shy, or overly serious. They may appear withdrawn and avoiding contact. However, in reality, these people are characterized by a constant need for deep and lasting contact with others (ie, a strong symbiotic tendency). They easily begin to identify themselves with other people and certain aspects of their being. If this identification is disrupted due to changes in the system of established connections, such changes may be perceived as a catastrophe and lead to deep depression, while such a reaction does not seem adequate to an objective observer. The mere threat of breaking symbiotic connections can cause anxiety in such individuals, further increasing the rise in the profile on the second scale. Their isolation and isolation may reflect a desire to avoid disappointment. In fact, they feel the need to attract and retain the attention of others, value their assessment, strive to acquire and maintain their close connection with the severity of such a tendency! situations that require an aggressive response directed outward cause them anxiety. They are characterized by reactions accompanied by feelings of guilt, anger directed at themselves, and auto-aggression (intrapunitive reactions). As an extreme degree of intrapunitive reaction, suicidal tendencies may arise. It should be noted that suicidal tendencies can also be considered as a form of symbiotic behavior, since in most cases they express a “call” reaction, a desire to gain attention from others. The opportunity to attract and retain attention in this way is often “played out” before a suicide attempt in suicidal fantasies. From the point of view of diagnosing suicidal tendencies, the second scale is of particular interest in cases of “smiling” depression. Studies of the stages of suicidal tendencies, which have revealed a period of “ominous calm” immediately preceding a suicide attempt, suggest that the data objective methodology, reflecting the true severity of depressive tendencies, in this period can play a significant role in the prevention of suicide.

The peak of the profile on the second scale may be constant, invariably being detected during repeated testing. In these cases, depending on the profile level on ninth scale, we are talking about chronically anxious individuals or people with a subdepressive temperament (constitutionally depressed according to P.B. Gannushkin). In other cases, the peak appears only in individual studies, either without connection with external factors (cyclothymic mood swings), or in connection with external circumstances.

Reducing the profile to the second scale is usually typical for people with a low level of anxiety, active, sociable, feeling a sense of belonging! significance. strength, energy and vigor.

The validity of the second scale was confirmed by a study of patients with various forms of depressive syndrome. This group included both patients with classical depression, characterized by decreased mood, ideational and motor inhibition, and patients with anxious, asthenic and apathetic depression. At the same time, by the term “asthenic depression” we designate depressive states in which the symptoms are determined by a feeling of physical weakness in the absence of objective signs of asthenia, and by the term “apathetic depression” we denote conditions in which complaints about loss of interest in everything around us, favorite activities and close people dominate. without a hint of painful numbness. Decreased mood in these forms of depression is not subjectively realized or is attributed to those described. complaints and feelings. The average profile of depressed patients was generally characterized by a maximum increase in the second field and a moderate increase in the first. Second climb the profile in these patients was very pronounced andactually the same seventh and eighth scales that will be discussed below.

Profile sharply was down to ninth scale (hypomania scale) and rose to zero(social introversion scale). It was also possible to identify variants of the depressive profile associated with the characteristics of the clinical picture. In classical depression with ideational and motor retardation, there was a more pronounced decrease on the ninth scale and an increase on the zero scale; with anxious depression, such a decrease on the ninth scale and an increase on the zero scale are not expressed and their level was usually in accordance with average height individual profile, asthenic depression was characterized by a more pronounced increase on the first scale and a relatively higher height of the second rise in the profile. The value of the rise or fall of the profile on the second scale varies significantly depending on the other characteristics of the profile, on the combination of results on other clinical and rating scales. The interpretation of these combinations will be discussed as the corresponding scales are described. MMPI. Combination of an increase on the first and second scales If there is a pronounced increase in the profile on the first scale with a peak on the second, then a decrease in mood and difficulties in social contacts are accompanied by irritability and anxiety about one’s health. Somatic complaints reflect a feeling of threat and lack of attention from others, an unsatisfied symbiotic tendency. The significance of these complaints is emphasized by the connection with vital functions (cardiac sensations, feeling of lack of air, headache, loss of appetite and sleep). Complaints of gastrointestinal disorders are less common. Concern about the state of your physical health usually begins to dominate the clinical picture if, while maintaining an increase in the profile on the second scale, a peak is noted on the first.

Third MMPI scale.

Repression of factors that cause anxiety 3rd scale - the “emotional lability” scale, in the old version - the “hysteria” scale.

U measured increases in the 3rd scale reflect variability of mood, flexibility of attitudes, easy adaptation to different social roles, demonstrativeness and a tendency to dramatize the situation in an artistic person who seeks recognition and chooses public types of professional employment (artists, lawyers, public figures). Vegetative-emotional instability and a tendency to conversion disorders are reflected in the profile by high (70T and above) scores on the 3rd scale.

The hysterical personality profile appears concurrently with high scores 1st and 3rd scales increasing 4th(impulsiveness), 6th(rigidity) and 8 th (individualism) of the SMIL scales at low 2nd.

High performance at the same time 3rd, and on 4th scales are typical for the profile of a psychopathic personality with behavioral reactions of a hysterical nature, but are also found in hysteroform or psychopathic-like debut of the schizophrenic process.

In combination with a raised 7th scale (anxiety scale), the peak on the 3rd scale is characteristic of neurotic disorders with fixed fears. The term “repression” was used even before Freud, and its use is not limited to the framework of psychoanalysis, but is a statement of the fact that any idea that exists in a person’s mind can be removed (repressed) from consciousness for a more or less long time. This feature, especially characteristic of hysterical psychopaths, is noted, in particular, by L. B. Gannushkin, saying that some things by hysterical psychopaths are “completely ignored, leaving absolutely no trace in the psyche,” due to which hysterics are “emancipated from the facts.” If the elimination of anxiety is achieved mainly by displacing the factors that cause it from consciousness, then the profile obtained using the method of multilateral personality research is usually determined by an increase in third a scale that reflects the tendency toward demonstrative, and in clinically pronounced cases, hysterical behavior characteristic of persons with a high ability to repress.

The group for which the scale was validated included patients whose condition was characterized by the presence of conversion hysterical stigmas, egocentrism, demonstrative behavior, the desire to deny the difficulties of social adaptation and emphasize the severity of their somatic condition. The described state in the average profile, along with the maximum increase on the third scale, corresponded to a moderate increase on the first and fourth scales. In the right part of the profile, a second rise was noted, but it was less pronounced than in the previously described neurotic syndromes. Variants of this profile are due to low or, on the contrary, severe severity of somatic stigmas and varying severity of the syndrome. As noted by other authors, for neurotic profiles the absence of a second rise indicates a lesser severity of the condition.

The 60 statements included in the third scale are formulated in a somewhat vague form, leaving wide scope for individual interpretation. These statements can be divided into two main groups. The first group includes statements that reflect the subject’s tendency to make somatic complaints, the second group includes statements that reveal a tendency to deny emotional difficulties and tension in interpersonal contacts. The first group includes, for example, statements: “You often have a feeling as if your head is tied with a bandage or hoop”, “Have you ever fainted” (the typical answer is “true”), the second - “Often you cannot understand why the day before you were in a bad mood and irritated”, “Sometimes you feel like cursing” (typical answer “wrong”).

Thus, a significant increase in the profile for third The scale suggests a combination of the desire to emphasize somatic disadvantage with a tendency to deny difficulties in social adaptation. This constellation is typical for persons with more or less pronounced hysterical phenomena. With moderate expression of the described mechanism, it can contribute to successful adaptation, facilitate interpersonal contacts, entry into a new social environment and activities that require extensive and relatively short contacts with different people, due to the fact that repression reduces or eliminates the impact on the subject of possible negative environmental signals, providing thus a high degree of freedom of behavior. A high capacity for repression, which makes it possible to effectively eliminate anxiety, at the same time makes it difficult to form sufficiently stable behavior, since perceptions and ideas that are essential for effective interaction with others, but that are inappropriate to the impulses that arise at the moment and the desired situation, are displaced from consciousness. When this ability is highly expressed, everything that does not correspond to the current situation and role is forced out of consciousness, and therefore there is a constant emergence of new roles, tasks and assessments. People of this type do not have a sufficiently developed inner world. Their experiences are focused on the external observer. If the described features reach clinical severity, there may be a loss of the ability to form stable attitudes and build behavior based on previous experience. This leads to the need to build behavior in each individual case using the “trial and error” method, based on satisfying the desires that appear at the moment. At the same time, forms of behavior that in the past made it possible to achieve the satisfaction of desires and needs, and to obtain pleasure, can be reproduced according to the “cliché” type, regardless of their adequacy to the changed conditions.

Personalities of the described type are characterized by the inability to refuse to satisfy an urgent need in order to receive delayed, but more complete satisfaction. A high level of repression allows you to ignore negative signals from others, maintain high self-esteem and determine narcissism, the desire to “play yourself” in accordance with the role accepted at the moment. Ignoring negative signals coming from the environment can lead to unceremonious behavior without properly assessing the impression made on others. Even with small profile peaks on the third scale, it is noted, although lesspronounced, lack of critical assessment of the situation and one’s behavior. As a rule, individuals with a profile peak on the third scale strive to be the center of attention, seek recognition and support, and achieve this although indirectly.vigorous but persistent actions. They are prone to fantasizing, which sometimes transforms the real situation beyond recognition for them. With a tendency to fantasize and loss of a sense of the real situation, the sense of the reality of one’s own feelings and desires, which determine behavior, is never lost. Despite the diversity of roles, the egocentric orientation is always preserved, which ultimately leads to immaturity and poverty of behavior (“monotonous diversity”). Interpersonal contacts are also carried out at an immature and superficial level. Group activities that require planning and long-term pursuit of a single line are usually made difficult by persons whose profile is determined by such a peak. The impossibility of long-term and orderly effort is in a number of cases justified by various kinds of declarative statements.

At the same time, they succeed well in activities that require broad, varied and relatively short-term contacts, the ability to adapt to different people, to look favorably in their eyes, and the ability to get used to the role. Somatic symptoms are used as a means of resolving conflict situations, reducing tension, as a way to avoid responsibility or reduce it, as a means of putting pressure on others. This tendency manifests itself mainly under stress, whereas under normal circumstances external observation may not reveal any personal inadequacy. The possibility of identifying, during periods of stable compensation, a predisposition to the occurrence of somatic hysterical symptoms increases the value of the result obtained on the third scale.

Decompensating situations are usually situations of increased demands and stress, as well as disruptions in relationships that, by necessity, must be maintained, in particular disruptions in marital relationships. In these situations, gross conversion "symptoms may occur, which is explained by the repression of the corresponding functions (hysterical aphonia, ataxia, etc.) and usually does not cause great difficulties in diagnosis. However, more subtle disorders often arise, expressed in changes in autonomic regulation, which are affectively "colored" ” and are dramatized, or in behavioral “copies” of somatic suffering previously suffered (or observed by the patient) in the absence of the objective symptoms characteristic of them.

Regardless of the nature of the symptoms that arise in decompensation in individuals with a profile determined by the peak on the third scale, its occurrence is associated with satisfactionthe need for attention and support, for admiring one’s suffering and resilience, with the desire to resolve a conflict situation in a socially acceptable way. Typically, during the period of decompensation, there is a significant increase in the profile peak on the described scale.

However, occasionally there are profiles in which there is no peak on the third scale. despite the presence in the clinic of a gross conversion symptom (usually a monosymptom). This profile picture indicates the effective elimination of anxiety with the help of conversion (and therefore, in these cases, the second scale is also omitted"). It occurs almost exclusively with the long-term existence of a somatic hysterical symptom. Subjects with the leading peak of the profile on the third scale have a characteristic orientation towards external the environment makes the development of psychosis, which involves the construction of one’s own unreal world, unlikely.

The attitude towards therapy in persons with a peak on the third scale is initially positive due to the expressed need for attention, as well as due to the fact that the role of the patient requires a declaration of cooperation with the doctor and a desire for recovery. However, in the future, the persistent intervention of the doctor causes them to feel a sense of protest. They begin to make impossible demands, complaining about the failure of therapeutic measures or even the deterioration of their condition as a result of these measures, claiming that they are not understood, they are treated poorly, etc. Achieving therapeutic success is always accompanied by a decrease in the profile on the described scale; in those cases where clinical improvement is not accompanied by a corresponding transformation of the profile, a relapse of symptoms can be expected.

Persons with very low scores on the third scale are usually prone to introversion, skepticism and lack spontaneity in social contacts.

Combinations with previously discussed scales.

Of great importance is the ratio of profile levels to third scale and K scale. The higher the profile on the K. scale when it peaks on the third scale (especially if it is simultaneously noted decrease in profile on the F scale), the more subtle the manifestations of demonstrativeness and the less common are gross conversion symptoms. Apparently, reflected in an increase in profile on the K scale, the tendency to deny uncertainty, difficulties and any form of disadvantage limits the most striking external manifestations of demonstrativeness, immaturity and egocentrism. In these cases, a desire is revealed to emphasize harmony in relationships with others, even at the expense of abandoning previously accepted attitudes and criteria. Persons giving a profile of this type (in the absence of an increase in profile on the eighth scale) are characterized by conformity and the desire to strictly follow conventional norms, increased identification with their social status, and an increased desire for a positive assessment from others. The tendency to establish harmony in interpersonal relationships and a focus on support from others leads to the fact that situations requiring clear independent decisions, sharp, outright rebuff towards others or the use of power are stressful situations for such individuals, which they try to avoid. The tendency to declare optimism regardless of the real situation is also typical.

In connection with the described features in clinical cases, people of this type rarely agree to recognize the connection between the symptoms that have arisen and emotional stress, and are reluctant to agree to contacts with a psychiatrist, and even more so to hospitalization in psychiatric institutions.

Peak on the third scale is often combined with a rise on the first. At the same time, the profile level is at second scale turns out to be lower than on the first and third, and the profile on the first three scales takes the form Roman numeral V, therefore, this version of the profile in the literature devoted to the original version of the MMPI was called conversion V. This type of profile reflects the elimination of anxiety (a decrease in the profile on the second scale) due to somatization (increasing the profile on the first scale) and its displacement with the formation of demonstrative behavior ( profile increase is not the third scale). Reactions of this type make it possible to interpret life’s difficulties, inability to meet the expectations of others, inconsistency with one’s own level of aspirations, etc., from a point of view that is socially acceptable and seems rational to the subject himself. These reactions can occur, firstly, due to the appearance of somatic symptoms, which make it possible to rationally explain the difficulty and, secondly, due to the occurrence of non-psychotic psychopathological symptoms, which are expressed in complaints of fatigue, irritability, inability to concentrate, etc. Somatic complaints, as well as complaints from individuals whose profile is determined by the peak on the first scale, can be accompanied by the occurrence of senestopathic sensations, which in these cases often relate to the skin and skeletal muscles, and not just to the internal organs. Pessimism, clearly expressed in individuals with an isolated profile peak on the first scale, decreases as the profile increases on the third. It should be taken into account that similar types of profile are often observed in somatic diseases, in the genesis of which personal characteristics and situations of emotional stress play an important role (peptic ulcer, transient forms of arterial hypertension, migraine, etc.) and, apparently, reflect the characteristics of These states have psychosomatic relationships. With moderate severity of the described characteristics and sufficiently high intelligence, good adaptation to the environment with self-confidence, high social adaptability, and extroversion is noted. This possibility is greater, the subtler the demonstrative component of behavior, i.e., the higher the results on the K scale and the lower on the F scale. The level of adaptation achieved will be reflected in the degree of profile reduction on the second and seventh scales. If such a decrease is pronounced, subjects usually strive to appear as people with a strong sense of responsibility and altruistic inclinations, and indeed willingly organize their behavior in accordance with the role of a person providing help to others.

Combination increases on the third and second scales indicates severe disharmony and is rarely found in healthy people. It reflects the simultaneous existence of demonstrative and anxious tendencies, in which the repression characteristic of demonstrative individuals is never quite complete, since a high level of anxiety causes increased attention to any negative signals, to any events that may be perceived as frustrating, threatening or indicating the likelihood of a threat in future. On the other hand, the development of restrictive behavior, which allows one to narrow the range of anxiety-provoking stimuli and situations, is hampered by the tendency to demonstrate behavior with the search for recognition, the desire to expand contacts, and to be the center of attention.

If along with p increasing in the second and third scales there is a pronounced decline to ninth, then we are talking about the same disharmonious combination of depressive and demonstrative tendencies, in which the intrapsychic conflict is caused by the contradiction between the egocentrism characteristic of a demonstrative personality (with a focus on one’s own desires and needs) and a pronounced symbiotic tendency characteristic of a subdepressive personality and accompanied by a decrease in the value of one’s own needs . Individuals with this type of profile are characterized by a decrease in mood, which, depending on the ratio of the profile height on the second and third scales and some other profile characteristics (in particular, the profile height on the seventh and ninth scales) or dominates (which in clinically pronounced cases allows us to talk about actual depressive symptoms), or is colored by anxiety disorders, or is expressed in feelings of weakness and apathy. The behavior of patients with the described variant of the profile is focused on sympathy, attention and support from others (as well as when combining an increase in the profile on the second scale with an increase in it on the first). However, in this case, this goal is achieved not so much by emphasizing somatic complaints, but by affecting the presentation of non-psychotic psychopathological disorders (decrease in mood, memory, fatigue, etc.). The indicated symptoms can be used as a means of providing increased attention and support, as well as as a means of putting pressure on others, which is realized to a greater extent the higher the profile on the third scale and the closer the contact with those under pressure. In this regard, adaptation in the immediate environment, in particular within the family, may be difficult. psychasthenic psychopathy should be stipulated that this term here refers to a form of psychopathic disorders in which the central element of the clinical picture is painful doubts, perceived by patients not as imposed from the outside, but as part of their own personality.

Fourth MMPI scale.

Realization of emotional tension in direct behavior

4th scale - the "impulsivity" scale instead of the previous name - the "psychopathy" scale.

With a standard spread (within 60 - 75T), it reveals an active personal position, pronounced resistance to environmental influences, and high search activity; in the structure of motivational orientation - the predominance of achievement motivation, confidence and speed in decision making. Individuals with a high profile on the 4th scale are characterized by impatience, a tendency to take risks, an unstable, inflated level of aspirations, and a pronounced dependence of behavior on momentary motives and needs. The statements and actions of individuals of this type often outstrip the thoughtfulness of their actions. A pronounced desire to indulge one’s own weaknesses, a lack of conformity, and a desire for independence are noticeable.

Defense mechanism - displacement from consciousness of information that is unpleasant or lowers a person’s self-esteem; in contrast to the 3rd scale, repression is more often and more vividly accompanied by a reaction at the behavioral level - critical statements, protest reactions and aggressiveness. This scale reveals psychopathic tendencies at high scores (above 75T) within the framework of an excitable, emotionally immature personality.

Combined with high 6th it enhances explosiveness and aggressiveness, while simultaneously increasing 3rd scale - emphasizes hysterical features, and with increased 8th high levels of the 4th are characteristic of expansive schizoids with pronounced uncorrectable individualism. It is always high in individuals prone to impulsive statements and actions, while personality changes towards increasing impulsiveness can be caused by alcoholism, drug addiction, organic damage to the central nervous system or schizophrenic process, especially if the onset occurs in adolescence.

Thus, impulsivity is an indispensable feature of individuals with a high 4th scale, regardless of the trigger mechanism of painful disorders, and indicates weakened self-control and non-conformity of attitudes.

Two equally high peaks 2 and 4 reveal an internal conflict rooted in an initially contradictory type of response, in which impulsiveness and a high level of aspirations come into conflict with a tendency to restrain spontaneity and increase self-control. Such a predisposition can serve as a basis for alcoholism or drug addiction, as well as for the development of psychosomatic disorders. This profile pattern to a certain extent reflects the traits of “type A” described by Jenkinson, who believes that this emotional-personal pattern provides the basis for the development of cardiovascular failure and early myocardial infarction.

Low performance 4th the scales indicate a decrease in achievement motivation, a lack of spontaneity and spontaneity of behavior.

In a mental illness clinic, a high (above 90T) 4th scale is present in an unreliable, high-lying, “floating” profile along with a high 9- y with manic, hebephrenic and heboid syndromes, as well as with a psychopathic picture of the disease. A significant increase in the 4th scale (above 75T) may be a sign of increasing social maladjustment at the onset of schizophrenia. Often, clinicians mistake confusion and anxiety associated with loss of self-identity and criticality for neurotic anxiety. Timely psychodiagnostic research can protect psychiatrists from such a mistake.

4th scale - “impulsivity”. As a leader in a profile located within the normative range, it reveals an active personal position, high search activity, in the structure of motivational orientation - the predominance of achievement motivation, confidence and speed in decision making.

The motive for achieving success here is closely related to the will to realize strong desires, which are not always subject to the control of reason. The less mature the personality before us, the less the norms of behavior instilled in upbringing dominate a person, the greater the risk of spontaneous activity aimed at realizing momentary impulses, contrary to common sense and the interests of the surrounding society.

With objective indicators indicating the presence of a sufficiently high intelligence, this emotional pattern reveals an intuitive, heuristic style of thinking. However, with undeveloped or low intelligence, a high 4th scale is typical for people who are emotionally immature, hastily make decisions and act spontaneously, without relying on accumulated experience; thinking can acquire a speculative (not reasoned, not supported by facts) character. Therefore, final conclusions on this factor can be made only based on a combination of different characteristics and taking into account the level of intelligence.

People in this circle are characterized by impatience, a penchant for risk, an unstable, often inflated level of aspirations, the level of which has a pronounced dependence on momentary motives and external influences, on success and failure. Behavior is relaxed, spontaneity in the manifestation of feelings, in speech production and in manners. Statements and actions often precede planned and consistent thoughtfulness of actions. The tendency to resist external pressure, the tendency to rely mainly on one’s own opinion, and even more on momentary impulses. A noticeably expressed desire to follow one’s own primitive desires, self-indulgence.

Lack of conformity, desire for independence. In a state of emotional capture - the predominance of emotions of anger or admiration, pride or contempt, i.e. pronounced, polar emotions, while control of the intellect does not always play a leading role. In personally significant situations, quickly fading outbreaks of conflict may appear.

Interest in activities with pronounced activity (from a young age - physical, over the years - social or antisocial), love for high speeds, and in connection with this - for moving equipment, the desire to choose a job that allows one to avoid subordination, as well as to find use for dominant traits character. Dominance in this context does not necessarily mean leadership ability. Here we are talking mainly about low subordination and emphasized independence, in contrast to leadership, which involves a penchant for organizational functions, the ability to infect others with your ideas and lead them, integrating their actions in accordance with your plans (see interpretation of the 6th scale in combination with 4th).

Under stress, individuals with a prevailing 4th scale display an effective, sthenic type of behavior, determination, and masculinity. Persons of this type do not tolerate monotony well, monotony makes them drowsy, and the stereotypical type of activity makes them bored. Imperative methods of influence in relation to these people and an authoritarian tone can encounter noticeable opposition, especially if the leader trying to manipulate the individual does not enjoy the proper authority and does not evoke emotions of respect, admiration or fear in this individual.

Defense mechanism - displacement from consciousness of information that is unpleasant or lowers a person’s self-esteem; in contrast to the 3rd scale, repression is more often and more vividly accompanied by a reaction at the behavioral level with critical statements, protest reactions and aggressiveness, which significantly reduces the likelihood of the occurrence of a psychosomatic variant of maladjustment. The mechanism of restraining negative emotions under the strong influence of “rationality,” that is, under the control of consciousness, the role of which is enhanced in socially significant situations, leads in people of this circle to psychosomatic disorders, mainly associated with the cardiovascular activity of the body. This type of response is usually reflected in the profile by a rise on the 2nd scale with a high 4th.

A profile in which moderately elevated 4th and 6 The -th scale is characteristic of a person of a rational realistic type, who is hampered in the implementation of intentions by increased impulsiveness and nonconformism.

If the peak on the 4th scale is combined with elevated 3rd, then this is rather an irrational realistic person whose pragmatism is higher than with an isolated peak on the 3rd scale, but low learning experience reduces the effectiveness of the efforts expended.

High scores on the 4th scale (above 70T) reveal a hyperthymic (excitable) variant of accentuation, characterized by increased impulsivity. The properties listed above, revealed by an elevated 4th scale in a normal profile, are grotesquely sharpened here and are manifested by difficult self-control. Against the background of good intelligence, such individuals have the ability to take an unconventional approach to solving problems, to moments of creative insight, especially when a person is not dominated by normative dogmas and various kinds of restrictions. Insufficient reliance on experience is compensated by pronounced intuitiveness and speed of reactions. A pronounced tendency towards a creative approach as emotional and personal conditions that are realized with sufficiently high intelligence occurs especially often with a profile of the type “489 - /0 or 48”2 - /17. However, non-conformity manifests itself not only in the peculiarities of thinking, but also in the style of experience, in the tendency to impulsive behavioral reactions, therefore the interpretation of such a profile should be carried out with particular caution. The degree of compliance of the views and behavior of the subject with generally accepted norms, his hierarchy of values, and moral level depend to a large extent on the social environment and the success of the educational measures taken in relation to this individual. Therefore, based only on the data of the SMIL methodology, we cannot categorically state which way the non-conformity of a given individual is realized. It can manifest itself as radicalism and innovation if we have a person who is knowledgeable, erudite, but at the same time striving to overcome generally accepted routine views on a particular phenomenon. Psychophysiologist K.K. Monakhov once expressed the following thought: “In science, at the first moment, any innovation is perceived as hooliganism. Therefore, any pioneer, about to express any new idea for the first time, feels as if he is going to be a bully.” This is very correctly noted. The profile of such individuals is most often distinguished by a fairly high (up to 80 T) 4th scale in combination with a raised 8th. At the same time, a primitive, needy, immature personality with unjustifiably high ambitions, an individual who has nothing interesting in his soul, a lazy person, unable (or unwilling) to comprehend at least the basics of a general education course, trying to attract the attention of others through negative manifestations, violates the generally accepted style of behavior and neglects the moral principles of his environment. And then his behavior is no longer in quotation marks, but actually looks like hooliganism. The profile of people in this circle contains high indicators not only 4th, but also 9th scales with low 2nd and 7th.

A high peak on the 4th scale (above 75 T) reveals psychopathic traits of the excitable type, pronounced impulsiveness, and conflict. High indicators of the 4th scale enhance the characteristics of concomitant increases in other scales of the sthenic register - 6th, 9- th and impart features of a behavioral pattern (emphasized independence, conflict) to the indicators 3rd and 8 th scale.

When combining high 4th with high (or high) 2nd scale, indicators of the 2nd weaken the aggressiveness, non-conformity and impulsiveness of the 4th scale, since a higher level of consciousness control over behavior is noted here.

Two equally high peaks 2 and 4 reveal an internal conflict rooted in an initially contradictory type of response, which combines multidirectional tendencies - high search activity and dynamic arousal processes (4th) and pronounced inertia and instability (2nd). Psychologically, this is manifested by the presence of a contradictory combination of a high level of aspirations with self-doubt, high activity with rapid exhaustion, which is characteristic of the neurasthenic pattern of maladjustment. Under unfavorable social conditions, such a predisposition can serve as a basis for alcoholism or drug addiction, as well as for the development of certain psychosomatic disorders. This profile pattern to a certain extent reflects the traits of “type A” described by Jenkinson, who believes that this emotional-personal pattern represents the basis for the development of cardiovascular failure and a predisposition for early myocardial infarction.

Combination 4th scale from 6th at high rates, it reveals an explosive (hot-tempered) type of reaction. The height of the peaks in the range of 70-75 T reflects the accentuation of the character according to the explosive type. Higher rates are characteristic of the psychopathic personality profile of the excitable circle with a tendency to impulsive aggressive reactions. If the personal characteristics inherent in a given profile and manifested by a pronounced sense of competition, leadership traits, aggressiveness and stubbornness, are channeled (directed) into the mainstream of socially acceptable activities (for example, sports), then the bearer of these properties can remain sufficiently adapted mainly due to what is optimal for him social niche. In a situation of authoritarian-imperative pressure and other forms of opposition that hurt the self-esteem and prestige of the individual, as well as in aggressive reactions from others, individuals with this type of profile easily go beyond the adapted state and give an explosive (explosive) reaction, the degree of controllability of which is determined by indicators scales reflecting inhibited traits (2nd, 7th and 0th scales).

Low performance 4th The scales indicate a decrease in achievement motivation, a lack of spontaneity, spontaneity of behavior, good self-control, unexpressed ambition, a lack of leadership traits and a desire for independence, a lack of adherence to generally accepted norms of behavior, and conformism. In everyday life they often say about such people: “No zest.” If such a decline in the profile on the 4th scale reflects a temporary decrease in the individual’s opposition to the environment, then this may be due to the fact that this individual finds himself in a situation where his “self” is blocked. For example, a person who has just received a new assignment experiences some self-doubt (an incompetence complex) and temporarily changes the strategy of behavior aimed at achieving a goal to a “trench”, wait-and-see policy. In a mental illness clinic, a high (above 90 T) 4th scale is present in an unreliable, high floating profile along with high 9th with manic, hebephrenic and heboid syndrome, as well as with a psychopathic picture of the disease. A significant increase in the 4th scale (above 75 T) may be a sign of increasing social maladjustment at the onset of schizophrenia. Often, clinicians mistake confusion and anxiety associated with loss of self-identity and criticality for neurotic anxiety. Timely psychodiagnostic research could well have saved psychiatrists from such a mistake, showing in time the inadequacy of the personality changed by the onset of the disease and the inappropriateness of assessing the condition as a neurotic breakdown. A sharp discrepancy between the indicators of the SMIL profile, reflecting the internal picture of the patient’s condition, and the impressions lying on the surface in such cases is pathognomonic, that is, characteristic of gross mental pathology. That is why it is not recommended to use this technique in acute mental disorders, in cases of non-criticality and reduced intelligence in patients who are unable to adequately describe their experiences and characteristics of the condition. This once again confirms the fact that the SMIL test is more a personal method than a clinical one. In addition, psychodiagnostic studies using the SMIL test confirm the correctness of the holistic personality concept, in which the leading individual typological tendencies act as a prognostically significant factor that pre-determines the path of maladjustment (locus minoris rezistencia) and the formation of the leading clinical syndrome. This was clearly evident in the study of severe forms of psychogenic disorders. Traditionally, reactive states that develop in situations that are objectively difficult for the individual have been considered by psychiatrists within the framework of reactive depression. The author of this manual discovered reactive states that arose in response to the threat of capital punishment (execution) being applied to them after a crime they had committed. However, the reactive state manifested itself as exaltation, bravado, self-confidence in one’s rightness with active opposition to environmental influence, without a shadow of repentance or regret. According to a psychodiagnostic study, this condition manifested itself as a continuation of the basic leading tendencies of the personality: hyperthymic, impulsive, aggressive, and extroverted. This state was designated as a hyperthymic, exalted type of reactive state. Later, psychiatrists independently came to this conclusion (B.V. Shostakovich, Ya.E. Svirinovsky, Z.S. Gusakova, N. K. Kharitonov), who gave this nosological group the name “pseudomanic reactive states. Further joint research allowed us to come to the following conclusion: within the framework of reactive states provoked by powerful and objectively severe psychotrauma, in addition to the majority of patients exhibiting typical depressive symptoms, from 7 to 11% of people with other, “pseudomanic” symptoms are identified. The premorbid hyperthymic features inherent in these individuals, like grass through asphalt, make their way to the surface and form the basis of clinical manifestations despite the extremely difficult situation and the absence of any prospects to justify an optimistic attitude.

We will return to the role of the 4th scale in the profile in the process of getting acquainted with the interpretation of other scales. It should be borne in mind that its increase always significantly enhances the sthenic and non-conforming tendencies inherent in other scales. In general, individuals for whom the 4th scale determines the leading tendency are capable of not only actively realizing their own destiny, but also influencing the destinies of other people. However, this property is strongly dependent on how mature and independent of the individual’s momentary mood is the individual’s goal-setting. The passionate desire for self-realization in emotionally immature and intellectually undeveloped people of this type is so dissociated with real possibilities that sometimes it leaves these individuals no other path to self-affirmation other than the antisocial one, starting with a “struggle” with their own parents and school, ending with serious illegal acts. With sufficiently high intelligence, such people are able to achieve more than any other typological options. These are those independent-minded individuals who are able to dare, encroaching on established dogmas and old traditions - whether in the field of knowledge or in social foundations. A “rebellious spirit” can only be destructive (if the foreground is the desire to deny at all costs the usefulness of the existing order and the protrusion of one’s “I”), but it can also be creative if it is a mature personality, a qualified specialist, an intelligent politician.

Type “4” is a hostage to its difficult-to-control spontaneity of feelings - be it love, art, scientific or political activity. This tendency inevitably draws a person, like an uncontrollable horse - a rider, either to the heights of triumph, or to the abyss of fall. (I can’t help but remember Vladimir Vysotsky: “A little slower, horses! A little slower!”). At times, the passion of nature, beyond the control of reason, leads a person to the edge of the abyss, and he is unable to do anything to oppose this passion. It often happens that it is precisely such passionate individuals who turn out to be the creators of history, carrying the crowd along with them with the light of their own burning heart. This heroism is not always romantic; it can also be a manifestation of a person’s self-centered intoxication with his special role. In their personal lives, they can appear both as noble romantic knights and as addicted flighty people. They are characterized by an eternal search for novelty, they are unlikely to sin with altruism, but they also take credit for this as a manifestation of sincerity and the absence of hypocrisy. Most often they have remarriages, change jobs several times, like to drink, scold the authorities, conflict with their superiors, remain childish until old age, are not always practical, often inconsistent, but at the same time they are sometimes charming. On this “soil” a personality pattern of a genius, hero, innovator, revolutionary, or a hooligan, anti-hero, extremist can be formed with equal success, but in any case - something far from the average, philistine type of personality. The need to be proud of oneself and to gain the admiration of others is an urgent need for individuals of this type, otherwise emotions are transformed into anger, contempt and protest. If the life credo of the individual-personal type “2” is based on the philosophical basis of Hegel (self-denial, fatalism, dominance of the ideal over reality), then the philosophical basis of type “4” is Nietzschean (resistance to fate, dominance of the human will). The profile types discussed above reflected either the presence of anxiety disorders or the nature of intrapsychic adaptation that allows them to weaken or eliminate these disorders. In both cases, actualized needs, the blockage of which serves as a source of mental stress, do not find direct outlet in behavior. Mechanisms of intrapsychic adaptation ensure, in one form or another, the preservation of behavioral integration. Needs are realized in behavior not directly, but taking into account attitudes (reflecting a more or less stable set of opinions, interests and goals), relationships and social roles of the individual. If the blockade of an actualized need and the associated emotional stress are directly reflected in the subject’s behavior, bypassing the system of attitudes, relationships and social roles, without taking into account social and ethical norms, then in the profile of a multilateral personality study methodology this is usually reflected by the appearance of a peak on the fourth scale . The fourth scale includes 50 statements that are mainly related to dissatisfaction with life, belonging to a certain group or one’s position in this group, a feeling of one’s own inadequacy and the experience of injustice and misunderstanding on the part of others. These are the statements “You are unhappy with the way your life has turned out”; “You would have achieved much more if people were not opposed to you”; “You have the impression that no one understands you-”; “In your family, relationships are less warm and friendly than in others” (typical answer “true”). Persons with an isolated and pronounced increase in the profile on the fourth scale are usually regarded by clinical psychiatrists as psychopaths prone to antisocial behavior. Such persons, under favorable conditions, in the intervals between decompensations, may not display psychopathic traits and asociality for long periods of time. Therefore, the scale is valuable for predicting antisocial psychopathic behavior. Individuals whose profile is determined by the peak on the fourth scale are characterized by disdain for accepted social norms, moral and ethical values, established rules of behavior and customs. Depending on the level of activity, this neglect manifests itself in angry and aggressive reactions or is expressed more or less passively. Protest against accepted norms may be limited to the family and immediate non-family environment, but it may also acquire a generalized character. The inability to organize behavior in accordance with stable opinions, interests and goals makes the behavior of the described individuals difficult to predict. The same circumstance, apparently, is associated with their inability to plan future actions and neglect of the consequences of their actions. Their lack of ability to benefit from experience leads them to repeated conflicts with others. The inability to plan their behavior in individuals whose profile is determined by the peak on the fourth scale is not associated with the level of intelligence, which can be quite high. Often, increased self-esteem allows one to rationalize antisocial behavior by declaring that for individuals of their level, rules that are mandatory for others are not binding. The direct implementation of emerging impulses and the lack of forecasting lead to a lack of anxiety and fear of potential punishment. Situational difficulties that do not lead to severe consequences also do not cause anxiety or depression. Real punishment, if it is significant enough (in particular, imprisonment), can cause depressive or aggressive reactions, provoked not by the situation as a whole, but by the fact of punishment itself. In interpersonal relationships (even the most intimate ones), persons of the described type are distinguished by superficial and unstable contacts. They rarely have a feeling of deep affection. They can be pleasant in short-term communication, but long-term acquaintance usually reveals the unreliability of these individuals and their tendency to dysphoria. In pathological cases, antisocial tendencies can manifest themselves in causeless aggressiveness, deceit, sexual incontinence, and the realization of asocial desires (alcoholism, drug addiction). Conducted by one of the authors (F.B. Berezin) together with employees of the PNI Prosecutor's Office (A.R. Ratinov, G.Kh. Efremova) studies of individuals with severe antisocial behavior, the profile of which is determined by the peak on the fourth scale, showed that these individuals, When committing antisocial acts, they often care little about obtaining significant benefits and do not take into account the possibility of exposure and the dangerous consequences of such actions for themselves. At the same time, after the disclosure of their antisocial actions, such individuals may experience reactions of depression, anxiety, and periods of psychopathic agitation. If the peak of the profile on the fourth scale is found in young people, it may decrease or disappear with age.

Psychotherapeutic and corrective measures are usually not highly effective due to the already noted inability of the individuals described to benefit from their own negative experiences and the difficulty of forming a therapeutically useful feeling of internal connection with the persons carrying out these measures. A pronounced decrease in the profile on the fourth scale is characteristic of conventional individuals who demonstrate a high level of identification with their social status and a tendency to maintain constant attitudes, interests and goals. Combination with previously discussed scales. If the profile peak on the fourth scale is combined with rises on the scales located to the left of the fourth, then antisocial tendencies are masked or manifested in socially acceptable ways. The combination of the profile peak on the fourth scale with the peak on the one considered below has a similar meaning. seventh scale. This transformation of asocial manifestations takes place if hostility and protest against the existing norm are carried out indirectly, if the need for support and positive evaluation from others limits the manifestation of heteroaggressive tendencies, if asocial manifestations concern only the immediate environment and, finally, if socially acceptable rationalization takes place and the narrow focus of hostility and protest. In all these cases, the peak on the fourth scale will be combined with profile elevations on one, two, and sometimes all three scales of the neurotic triad. In the case of a combination of profile peaks at h fourth and first scales, concern about the state of one’s physical health will “mask” antisocial manifestations to a greater extent, the higher the peak on the first scale in relation to the peak on the fourth. In this case, somatic complaints are used to put pressure on others, in particular doctors, relatives, employees, in order to gain advantages and rationally explain dissatisfaction with one’s place in the group, a feeling of injustice, isolation, etc. In this regard, clearly antisocial behavior with this type of profile is rare, and somatic complaints are very persistent and resistant to therapeutic effects. In some cases, the peak on the first scale is not constantly detected, but appears as a result of the somatization of anxiety that arose as a result of the exposure of the subject’s antisocial actions, but even in these cases, during the period of time when, along with the peak on the fourth scale, a peak on the first is determined, asocial tendencies are revealed in the indirect form described above. The combination of peaks on the second and fourth scales, which exists constantly, indicates difficulties in social adaptation and reflects a tendency towards anxiety associated with the inability of the subjects to build their behavior in accordance with accepted norms and their tendency in this regard to self-reproach, self-blame, self-abasement when these norms are violated . In cases where the usually absent peak on the second scale appears in connection with troubles caused by impaired social adaptation and antisocial behavior, reactions of self-reproach and self-blame arise only for a specific reason. A decrease in the profile on the second scale with a profile peak on the fourth is prognostically unfavorable, since it indicates a lack of anxiety in connection with an antisocial tendency and, accordingly, a lack of motivation aimed at changing this tendency. The combination of rises on the third and fourth scales is typical for emotionally immature individuals, whose characteristic demonstrativeness and desire to focus on external assessment prevent direct antisocial behavior and make it possible to control antisocial impulses to a greater extent, the greater the social distance between the individual and the people in his social circle . The severity of this control, due to which people with this type of profile may even seem prone to conformism, increases in parallel with the increase in the profile on the third scale in relation to its level on the fourth. Since hostility, protest, inability and unwillingness to take into account the interests of others manifest themselves in these cases to a degree inversely proportional to social distance, they are found mainly in relationships with close people (in particular, with family members, close relatives, sometimes acquiring the character of a narrowly focused (“canalized”) ”) hostility towards any of them. Usually this hostility is rationally justified, which allows individuals with this type of profile to maintain external conformity. An indirect manifestation of antisocial tendencies may be a tendency to communicate with antisocial individuals. 4 IMPULSITY scale. As a leader in the profile, located within the normative range, it reveals an active personal position, high search activity, in the structure of motivational orientation - the predominance of achievement motivation, confidence and speed of decision-making. The motive for achieving success here is closely related to the will to realize desires, which are not always subject to the control of reason. Fifth MMPI scale. Expressiveness of male and female character traits The 5th scale - the “masculinity-femininity” scale - is interpreted differently depending on the gender of the subject. Elevated scores on the 5th scale in any profile mean a deviation from typical role behavior for a given gender and a complication of sexual interpersonal adaptation. Otherwise, the interpretation is polar in nature, depending on whether the female or male profile is to be deciphered: for men, an increased 5th scale is a sign of femininity, for women - masculinity. The “raw” indicators of the 5th scale on the women’s profile sheet are counted (unlike other scales) from top to bottom. A single peak on the 5th scale, in both men and women, with a linear, that is, normal, profile, without noticeable increases on other scales, is often found in peculiar people, incomprehensible to those around them, and indicates difficulties in interpersonal communication, which apply not only to persons of the opposite sex. Perhaps this is unconscious bisexuality or hidden, repressed homosexuality. Relatively high scores on the 5th scale with even higher peaks on the 8th and 1st scales are found clinically in individuals with a morbid focus on the sexual sphere.

Description of the technique

Minnesota Multidimensional Personality Inventory(Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, MMPI) is a personality questionnaire created in 1940 by S. Hathway and J. McKinley. This test is an implementation of the typological approach to the study of personality.

The questionnaire consists of 550 statements forming 10 main diagnostic scales. For each of the statements, subjects (persons aged 16 years and older with an IQ of at least 80) must answer: “true”, “false”, “I can’t say”. The answer that matches the “key” is worth one point.

Various options for presenting statements are possible; this is usually done using cards, which the subject puts into three groups in accordance with his answer. The data obtained is entered into a standard registration form, which also records information about the person being examined and the time spent on laying out the cards. The examination ends with the construction of a “personality profile”, which is drawn on special forms (separately for men and women), where the scores are converted into standard, so-called. T-scores with mean 50 and standard deviation 10.

To speed up the interpretation of the structure of indicators and economical description of the “profile”, a system of its numerical coding is used. To do this, the scales are recorded according to their digital designation (see below) in such an order that the scale with the highest indicators is in first place, and then the rest as they decrease. Using special icons they show how high the “profile” scales are located, for example, located at the level of 120 T - “!!”, 110-119 T - “!”, 100-109 T - “**”. There are several ways to encode a "profile".

Below are basic clinical scales MMPI:

Hypochondria scale(HS) - determines the “closeness” of the subject to the astheno-neurotic personality type;

Depression scale(D) - intended to determine the degree of subjective depression, moral discomfort (hypothymic personality type);

Hysteria scale(Hy) - designed to identify individuals prone to neurotic reactions of the conversion type (using symptoms of a physical illness as a means of resolving difficult situations);

Psychopathy scale(Pd) - aimed at diagnosing a sociopathic personality type;

Masculinity-femininity scale(Mf) - intended to measure the degree of identification of the subject with the role of a man or woman prescribed by society;

Paranoia scale(Pa) - allows one to judge the presence of “overvalued” ideas, suspicion (paranoid personality type);

Psychasthenia scale(Pt) - the similarity of the subject to patients suffering from phobias, obsessive actions and thoughts is established (anxious-suspicious personality type);

Schizophrenia scale(Sc) - aimed at diagnosing schizoid (autistic) personality type;

Hypomania scale(Ma) - the degree of “closeness” of the subject to the hyperthymic personality type is determined;

Social Introversion Scale(Si) - diagnostics of the degree of compliance with the introverted personality type. It is not a clinical scale; it was added to the questionnaire during its further development;

A special feature of MMPI is its use of four rating scales:

Scale "?"- can be called a scale conditionally, since it has no statements related to it. Registers the number of statements that the subject could not classify as either “true” or “incorrect”;

Lie scale(L) - intended to assess the sincerity of the subject;

Confidence scale(F) - created to identify unreliable results (related to the negligence of the subject), as well as aggravation and simulation;

Correction scale(K) - introduced in order to smooth out distortions introduced by the excessive inaccessibility and caution of the subject.

The relationships between the indicators obtained on these scales make it possible to judge the reliability of the survey results.

In addition to the main and rating scales, many additional scales (about 500) have been created based on MMPI statements. For example, a scale of academic abilities, alcoholism, social responsibility, rigidity, etc. An important role in the interpretation of the “personality profile” is played by those additional scales, with the help of which the results of the main ones are specified and clarified. Thus, the depression scale has the following additional scales: D1 - subjective depression; D2 - psychomotor retardation; D3 - physical weaknesses; D4 - psychological constraint; D5 - gloomy gloominess.

When interpreting the results obtained, it is assumed that any indicator equal to 70 T or higher (the peak of the “profile”) is accepted as normative for identifying pathological abnormalities. At the same time, it is necessary to take into account that the meaning of the same indicator as “pathological” may vary from scale to scale. Literal interpretation of questionnaire scales should be avoided; in particular, a high score on the schizophrenia scale cannot be assumed to indicate its presence. The authors emphasize that the MMPI scales “measure” not, say, hysteria, but the symptoms inherent in individuals with this mental disorder. The features of the “personality profile” are influenced by the age, gender, education of the subject, his attitude towards the testing procedure and some other variables. Any hypothesis based on the interpretation of the leading peaks of the profile must be confirmed by indicators of other scales (and, above all, independent of the results obtained using M. m. l.o.), data on the personality of the subject.

Theoretical basis

The MMPI does not have its own theoretical basis. To compile statements, the authors used patient complaints, descriptions of the symptoms of certain mental illnesses in clinical guidelines (classification of mental illnesses proposed by E. Kraepelin), and previously developed questionnaires. The statements were initially presented to a large group of healthy people, allowing their normative values ​​to be determined. These indicators were then compared with data obtained from various clinical groups. Thus, statements were selected that reliably differentiated healthy people from each of the studied groups of patients. These statements were combined into scales named according to the clinical group for which the scale was validated.

Adaptations and Modifications

In 1989, the questionnaire was significantly revised (a restandardization project began in 1982) and published as the MMPI-2 (J. Butcher, W. Dahlstrom, J. Graham, A. Tellidgeon, & B. Kammer, 1989). Both regular and computer versions were published at the same time. The new edition of the questionnaire contains 567 statements, of which 394 were taken from the earlier version, 66 were modified and 107 were developed again. MMPI-2, like the MMPI, contains three control scales and 10 clinical scales (statements 1-370). New scales were developed specifically for the MMPI-2. With their help, such properties are assessed as: anxiety (1); exposure to fears (2); obsession (3); depression (4); health care (5); whimsicality strangeness of thinking (6); anger (7); cynicism (8); tendency to antisocial behavior (9); closeness to type A personality (10); low self-esteem (11); family problems (12); social discomfort (13); interference with work (14); negative indicators for treatment (15).

The MMPI-2 also contains three new control scales (Fb, VRIN and TRIN). The first scale consists of statements that are rarely confirmed. The second and third are response incompatibility scales, which assess the degree to which the subject has a tendency to respond in a contradictory manner. The new normative data are based on a sample of 1,138 men and 1,462 women aged 18 to 84 years.

Recently, the issue of existing differences in profile elevation according to MMPI and MMPI-2 data has been discussed. In general, it is noted that the profile on the clinical scales of MMPI-2 is less elevated than in MMPI. As a result, the “demarcation line” of the rise in clinical scales decreases (from T more than 70 in the MMPI to T more than 65 in the MMPI-2).

A version has been developed for examining persons under 18 years of age - MMPI-A.

Shortened versions of the questionnaire were repeatedly proposed. One of the most famous is the Mini-Mult, consisting of 71 statements selected based on factor analysis. Foreign studies of the construct validity of the Mini-Mult indicate its sufficient validity in group diagnostics, and in individual diagnostics only in cases of severe mental disorders. Mini-Mult is adapted into Russian by V.P. Zaitsev (1981), however, there is evidence of the lack of validity of this technique.

Adaptation of the questionnaire in our country began back in the 60s. The first version of the MMIL was proposed, consisting of 384 statements. (F.B. Berezin and M.P. Miroshnikov, 1967). F. B. Berezin et al. An original interpretation of the MMPI scales was developed and its thorough standardization was carried out.

Much work on adapting the questionnaire was also carried out at the Leningrad Psychoneurological Institute named after. V.M. Bekhterev, Moscow psychologists (SMIL test L.N. Sobchik, 1971).

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