ASSESSING DRUG-ABUSERS WITH THE MILLON CLINICAL MULTIAXIAL INVENTORY - A REVIEW

This paper reviews studies that used the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory with drug abusers. Although the test has been used with over 2000 such patients in the published literature, there is still a dearth of basic research with the MCMI with this population. Preliminary evidence suggests that the Personality Disorder Scales are quite useful to assess personality styles of drug abusers, but the Clinical Syndrome Scales present some problems. Specifically, the Drug Dependence Scale has had difficulty in reliably "detecting" drug addicted individuals who were in treatment for drug abuse. However, a reliable modal MCMI profile among this population seems to exist, although cluster research suggests several subtypes, each with different personality styles. MCMI computer-narrative reports may overdiagnose paranoid disorder and under diagnose antisocial disorders among this population.