Personalized Assessment: Clinical/Personality Instruments

The MCMI and its sister inventories originated initially as a defensive act, a shield against the proliferation of potentially misconceived or poorly designed efforts on the part of well-mean­ing others to “operationalize" concepts Millon had proposed in his earlier 1969 publication. Rather than sit back and enjoy the dissemination of his ideas, Millon began to see this burgeoning of divergent instrument development, not only as uncontrolled, and possibly misguided, but as a process ultimately endangering the very theoretical notions they were designed to strengthen. To establish a measure of instrumental uniformity for future investigators, as well as to assure at least a modicum of psychometric quality among tools that ostensibly reflected the theory's constructs, Millon was prompted (perhaps “driven” is a more accurate word) to consider undertaking the test-construction task himself.

Millon™ Clinical Inventories Adolescent & Pre-Adolescent Inventories M-PACI™ (Millon Pre-Adolescent Clinical Inventory) MACI™ (Millon Adolescent Clinical Inventory) MAPI™ (Millon Adolescent Personality Inventory) Adult Clinical & Counseling Inventories MCMI-III™ (Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-III) MIPS™ (Millon™ Index of Personality Styles) (Revised) Inventory for Medical Patients MBMD™ (Millon Behavioral Medicine Diagnostic) Other Inventories Personality Adjective Check List (PACL) The Millon Behavioral Health Inventory(MBHI™)   For more information and to obtain the Millon™ instruments, please visit Pearson Assessments

About the Inventories

Psychodiagnostic procedures in the past contained more than their share of mystique. Not only were assessments often an exercise in oracular craft and intuitive artistry, but they typically were clothed in obscure and esoteric jargon. A change in the character of personality theory and assessment began to brew in the late 1960s. Slow though these advances progressed, there were clear signs that new ideas would soon emerge. Projective techniques such as the Rorschach began to be analyzed quantitatively and were increasingly anchored to the empirical domain. The so-called objective inventories, such as the MMPI and 16PF, were being interpreted increasingly in terms of configural profiles. No longer approached as sets of separate scales, formerly segmented instruments were increasingly analyzed as holistic integrations that possessed clinical significance only as gestalt composites. In addition, the former insistence that diagnostic interpretation be “objective”, that is, anchored solely to empirical correlates, gave way to clinical syntheses, including the “dynamics” of the previously maligned projectives. Although part-function instruments, oriented toward one expressive form of pathology or another (e.g., Beck Depression Inventory) are still popular, the newest tools moved increasingly toward composite structures, (i.e., “whole” personalities). These personality formulations were not conceived of as random sets or discrete attributes (i.e., factors) that must he individually deduced and then pieced together, but as integrated configurations from the start. Hence, we have seen the development of various tools explicitly designed to diagnose, for example, the “borderline" personality. The MCMI represents this trend in holistic personality measures, going one step beyond most techniques by including all of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) personality disorders in a single inventory. Holistic syntheses were not limited to inventories alone. New structured interview schedules and clinical rating scales were developed to provide another rich source of data. Not to be overlooked is the sound psychometric manner in which most of these newer tools have been constructed, thereby wedding the empirical and quantitative features that were the major strength of the structured objective inventories with the dynamic and integrative qualities that characterized the more intuitive projective techniques.

As is evident by the variety of “Millon” instruments reported in this website, Millon judged it best to opt in favor of focusing his inventories on target rather than broad-based populations; hence, the MCMI is oriented toward matters of import among adult mental health patients, the MACI focuses on adolescent clinical populations, the MBHI and the MBMD focus on those whose primary ailments are of a medical or physical nature, and the  MIPS (Millon Index of Personality Styles) addressed traits among nonclinical or so-called normal adults (as can be seen, Millon chose the term “style” for persons who do not evince discernible psychic pathology).

Perhaps the greatest value to this website's readers will be an implicit one, namely, the growing heuristic fertility of the Millon inventories. These inventories are more than an­other “objective” tool in the diagnostician's assessment kit. They provide clinicians with a theoretical foundation for mastering the realm of clinical and personality pathology, a means for understanding the principles that underlie their patient's functional and dysfunctional behaviors, thoughts, and feelings. Moreover, the openness of the theory not only illuminates the patient's personal life but encourages the clinician to deduce and uncover insights beyond those on which the inventories interpretive reports have been grounded.

A few words should be said about the instruments in press or under development.

The Millon Intake Guidance Scales (MIGS)

This instrument is designed for use primarily by intake professionals, such as social workers and nurse practitioners, at nursing homes, assisted living programs, rehabilitation center, etc. who wish to gauge the suitability of potential clients who are being appraised at the initial point of their admittance into a health program, home or specialty clinic. It is an inventory of only 48 items dealing with features such as anxiety, depression, apathy, social support, physical limitations, treatment resistance, and the like. Data analysis is underway, with plans for publishing a profile and brief interpretive report in late 2006. Agencies interested in this instrument prior to formal publication should contact this Institute.

The Millon College Counseling Inventory (MCCI)

The MCCI has been constructed to aid professional counselors (psychologists, social workers, psychiatrists) at college and university mental health and counseling centers to assess the personality vulnerabilities, expressed concerns and clinical symptoms of students, best obtained at the point of entrance into their evaluation and therapeutic programs. Over 40 university/college counseling centers and some 600 students have participated in the development of the inventory, to be published in late 2006 with both a profile and brief interpretive report.

The Millon Organizational Roles and Styles Inventory (MORSI) and the Millon Biopsychosocial Seniors Inventory (MBSI)

Both the MORSI and the MBSI are in the mid-research phases of development, and are likely to be published in 2007. The MORSI is oriented to the appraisal of employees in companies that have programs to assist them in their further development by identifying their interest patterns and strengths. The MBSI is designed to identify the coping strengths, physical difficulties, social attitudes and expressed concerns that may have a bearing on the capacity of the elderly to maintain healthy and gratifying functioning in their later years.

"Millon," M-PACI," "MACI," "MAPI," "MBHI," "MBMD," "MCMI-II," and "MCMI-III" are trademarks and "MIPS" is a registered trademark of DICANDRIEN, INC.