Incremental Validity of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, Second Edition (MMPI‐2) Relative to the Beck Depression Inventory‐Second Edition (BDI‐II) in the Detection of Depressive Symptoms

Personality dimensions, depression, and eating behavior in individuals seeking bariatric surgery: a cluster analysis

Introduction

Psychiatric comorbidity is frequent in bariatric surgery candidates. This study aimed to classify bariatric surgery patients according to patterns of preoperative measures of the severity of the eating disorder (ED), depression, and personality traits.

Methods

In the present cross-sectional study, 115 adult candidates for bariatric surgery (75 females, 65.22% of sample; mean age 37) were considered for analysis. Patients' sociodemographic and psychopathological variables were collected. K-Means clustering analysis was adopted to classify bariatric surgery candidates according to their preoperative Eating Disorder Inventory-2 (EDI-2) scores. In addition, we assessed depression and personality traits using the Beck Depression Inventory-2 (BDI-2) and the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2).

Results

Cluster analysis based on EDI-2 revealed two preoperative patterns: higher severity (n = 39), and low severity (n = 76). The more severe EDI-2 group had higher scores on the BDI-2 and presented higher scores on several MMPI-2 dimensions, particularly those related to anxiety (Psychasthenia, Anxiety, Fears, Obsessiveness), depression (Depression, including both content and clinical MMPI-2 subscales), externalizing symptoms (Anger, Cynicism, Type A Behavior), and social functioning (Social Introversion, Family Problems, Work Interference).

Discussion

Eating disorders symptoms in candidates for bariatric surgery are closely related to depression and different psychological conditions assessed with MMPI-2. These psychological variables should be evaluated preoperatively and targeted with more specific psychological interventions.

Depressive symptoms as a factor in neuropsychological test performance: MMPI-2 and selected tests of the Halstead-Reitan/Halstead-Russell Battery

The potential impact of depressive symptoms on neuropsychological test performance has been studied extensively yielding mixed results. Self-report depression inventories have been most often used, without a means to screen participants for response bias. Studies have also neglected to screen participants for incomplete effort in testing. In the present study, 48% of an initial sample of outpatient referrals (N = 247) failed to meet traditional validity criteria. The remaining participants were screened for cerebral pathology and then classified into high and low depressive symptom groups (ns = 46) using the median score on Scale D (Depression) of the MMPI-2. The "high depression" subjects scored over 70 T on the D scale (MN = 80 T). The "low depression" subjects scored below 65 T (MN = 58 T). Age, education, and estimated intelligence were equivalent across groups. Neuropsychological test performances were compared across eight tests: Revised Category Test, Trail Making Test, Part B, Tactual Performance Test (TPT), TPT Memory and Location, Reitan-Indiana Aphasia Screening Test, Seashore Rhythm Test, and the Speech Perception Test. A MANOVA revealed no main effect for group., F(8,69) = 1.05, n.s., and univariate analyses for each test also showed no intergroup differences. The results provide evidence that these neuropsychological tests are appropriately interpreted within a framework of brain-behavior relationships irrespective of an examinee's emotional status.