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, andpersonal 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.

Oxford Handbooks offer authoritative and up-to-date reviews of original research in a particular subject area. Specially commissioned chapters from leading figures in the discipline give critical examinations of the progress and direction of debates, as well as a foundation for futureresearch. Oxford Handbooks provide scholars and graduate students with compelling new perspectives upon a wide range of subjects in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences.

As one of psychology's oldest fields, personality assessment is one of the most extensively studied subsets of contemporary psychology. The Oxford Handbook of Personality Assessment synthesizes new and existing literature with clinical practice to provide a comprehensive volume on contemporary personality assessment, including its historical developments, underlying methods, applications, contemporary issues, and assessment techniques. This handbook, part of the Oxford Library of Psychology, addresses both the historical roots of personality assessment and the evolution of its contemporary methodological tenets, thus providing a foundation for the handbook's other innovative focus: the application of personality assessment in clinical, personnel, and forensic assessments.
With a wealth of respected international contributors and unequalled breadth of content, the Oxford Handbook of Personality Assessment offers an authoritative and field-encompassing resource for researchers and clinicians from across the medical health and psychology disciplines (i.e., clinical psychology, psychiatry, and social work) and would be an ideal text for any graduate course on the topic of personality assessment.

The "Advances in Personality Assessment Series" began in the early 1980s to facilitate the rapid dissemination of important new developments in theory and research on all aspects of personality assessment. Impressed with the extensive research on test development and validation that was going on at that time, the editors were concerned with the limited publication resources devoted to personality assessment. With this series, they hoped to provide a publication opportunity and resource for reports of personality assessment research and/or clinical practice that might not conveniently fit in journal format because of length, focus, or content.
The first nine volumes have accomplished this goal exceptionally well by highlighting new empirical and theoretical developments, providing descriptions of new scale development, and in publishing timely reviews of important research. Volume 10 -- the last in the series -- continues in the same tradition as the previous volumes, with chapters devoted to scale construction, theoretical interpretation, and empirical analysis. The editors conclude the series knowing that an important void has been filled. They close with a feeling of both accomplishment and a slight sense of regret now that their efforts for more than a decade are at an end, as well as assurance that the torch has been passed on to others.

In keeping with the goals of this series, which are to facilitate the rapid dissemination of important new developments in theory and research on all aspects of personality assessment, the eight chapters in this volume examine a wide range of topics. These include research investigations and clinical applications involving traditional assessment techniques -- such as the Rorschach and the MMPI-2 -- and promising but less known procedures. Specific topics examined in the individual chapters range from the assessment of appreciation of humor to assessment of marital distress. A review of the contents of this volume once again demonstrates the diversity in assessment philosophy, theoretical orientation, and research methodology that characterizes the field of personality assessment.

First published in 1990. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

This volume illustrates the diversity in assessment philosophy, theoretical orientation, and research methodology that is characteristic in the field of personality assessment. Topics range from anxiety about test taking and teaching science, to the emotional distress evoked by an environmental catastrophe.

In this book, 30 eminent contributors, from diverse psychological disciplines, address central issues in psychological assessment. Topics include ethical considerations in personality assessment, assessment of racial and ethnic minorities, and assessment of the elderly. The book maintains a practical, context-based approach throughout, and will appeal to both students and psychologists.

The APA Handbook of Psychopathology provides a broad perspective on new scientific developments in the study of mental disorders. In addition to providing an overview of symptoms and classification of disorders, the handbook discusses the history of psychopathology, behavioural genetics, cognitive research methodology, brain imaging, behavioural observation, personality assessment, and developments in social policy, government policy, and legal decisions. The handbook also addresses the considerable challenges produced by rapid progress in the field, including the evolution of diagnostic systems that define disorders. Material on each disorder is presented with a focus upon significant facets: The clinical picture, wherein contributors describe the symptoms of the disorder and its associated features. Factors involved in the development of the disorder. Relationships or comorbidity with other disorders. Different assessment and treatment approaches. The handbook provides a comprehensive analysis of research and advances in treatment in the contexts in which behaviour abnormalities occur.

This case book provides an overview of two increasingly related aspects of contemporary applied psychology: the exploration of computer-based psychological assessment strategies across cultures and the cross-cultural generalization of psychological constructs and procedures, particularly psychological assessment. In particular, this book is devoted to exploring the cultural generalizability in a Chinese context of the Minnesota Multiphasic Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) and the use of the Minnesota Report for the MMPI-2, the most widely used computer-based MMPI-2 interpretive system. Clinical case examples from Hong Kong highlight the cultural convergences and divergences that occur when using the Chinese version of the MMPI-2 versus the Minnesota Report.

In clear, accessible language, this book introduces readers to the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2), the most widely researched and broadly used personality assessment instrument. James N. Butcher, one of the authors of the MMPI-2, explains how the instrument was developed to describe and predict behavior in a range of applied settings. Guidance is provided for administering and interpreting the results, with case studies to illustrate major concepts. Several updates have been made since the previous edition of this popular book, including new interpretive information on the MMPI-2, new areas for application of the MMPI-2, and--most importantly--a new chapter on the MMPI-2 Restructured Form (MMPI-2-RF), a separate short instrument that beginners may confuse with the MMPI-2. This user-friendly but comprehensive primer is essential reading for nonpsychologist professionals who need a quick overview of the test, as well as for students of clinical and personality assessment who seek a reliable introductory text.

The best resource for interpreting these widely used personality assessment tests.

Essentials of MMPI-2 and MMPI-A Interpretation presents innovative interpretive strategies for both the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2, or MMPI-2, and the adaptation for adolescents, the MMPI-A. James N. Butcher and Carolyn L. Williams detail the rationale for the revision and development of the instruments and their scales and describe how to administer, score, profile, code, and interpret the tests.

This revised edition includes the most recent MMPI research, including new information on ethnic background and cultural setting as they relate to assessment. Focusing primarily on studies of profile validity and external correlates, the revision also includes interpretive guidelines for several scales newly introduced into the MMPI tests. A new workbook includes exercises related to Essentials of MMPI-2 and MMPI-A Interpretation in areas such as important test constructs, the interpretation of profile validity, and clinical and content scales.