Personality Assessment in Treatment Planning: Use of the MMPI-2 and BTPI

The establishment of frank and honest communication is one of the most important early goals of psychotherapy. Indeed, the most prominent challenge in the early stages of treatment is to develop a comfortable relationship that allows disclosure. In this volume, the authors show that objectively interpreted personality measures can be applied in psychotherapeutic assessments to facilitate an understanding of the patient and a thriving treatment program. Successful psychotherapy depends upon an early understanding of the patient's problems and personality and the establishment of attainable treatment goals. The extensive accumulated base of knowledge about personality and its maladjustment has become crucial when making treatment decisions about individuals in psychotherapy, and the field of personality assessment provides both methods and substantive information to support treatment-oriented evaluation. The MMPI has a long tradition of providing personality information about clients in mental health settings since the 1940s. James Butcher participated in the creation of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-2) in 1989, which has continued to be one of the most commonly used personality tests in clinical evaluation. Over a thousand studies have been conducted on the effectiveness of the MMPI in treatment related assessments. Here, Butcher and co-author Julia Perry explore the MMPI-2 as well as a new assessment tool, the Butcher Treatment Planning Inventory (BTPI). In using psychological evaluation techniques for treatment planning, many clinicians incorporate information from a broad base of instruments-clinical interview, projective testing, behavioral data, and personal history-and do not rely on data from a single source. Therefore, while this volume focuses on the use of the MMPI-2 and the BTPI in treatment planning, it will provide a context not to the exclusion of other measures.

About the Author

James N. Butcher is Professor Emeritus at the University of Minnesota and has maintained an active research program in the areas of personality assessment, abnormal psychology, cross-cultural personality factors, and computer based personality assessment. Dr. Butcher has published 50 books and more than 185 articles in the area of personality assessment, abnormal psychology, and psychotherapy. Actively involved in developing and organizing disaster response programs for dealing with human problems following airline disasters, Dr. Butcher organized a model crisis intervention disaster response for the Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport and supervised psychological services following two recent airline disasters: Northwest Flight 255 and Aloha Airlines' Maui accidents. Julia N. Perry currently manages clinical programs and activities for an interdisciplinary outpatient mental health team at the Minneapolis VA Medical Center. She provides mental health services to a broad range of patients and also trains students in psychology and other fields. She has previously taught courses in applied psychology. She has also been a management consultant for national business organizations, local municipalities, and public safety departments, providing a full range of related services.