Diagnostic validity of millon clinical multiaxial inventory-IV (MCMI-IV)

The Millon clinical multiaxial inventory fourth version (MCMI-IV) is a self-report assessment tool intended to provide information on personality disorders. This study aimed to assess the diagnostic validity of this tool. Participants with recent diagnosis of psychiatric disorders were included in the study. They were interviewed using structured clinical interview for diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders-5 (SCID-5) and MCMI-IV. The results showed that the Kappa agreement between the MCMI-IV and SCID-5 ranged between 0.23 to 0.39. The discriminant function analysis was conducted to predict personality clusters and other psychiatric disorders. Schizoid and cluster B personality including antisocial, histrionic, and narcissistic personality disorders were predicted by the MCMI-IV scales. Axis I disorders including major depressive disorder, persistent depressive disorder, bipolar mood disorder, and substance use were also predicted by this assessment tool. MCMI-IV scales were, however, not the predictor of other personality and Axis I psychiatric disorders. Sensitivity (23.08% in somatic symptom to 66.7% in drug and alcohol use), specificity (72.52% in generalized anxiety disorder or GAD to 95.61% schizophrenic spectrum), positive predictive probability (PPP) (6.67% in post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD to 57.35% in cluster B personality) and negative predictor probability (NPP) (80.81% in GAD to 98.15% in PTSD) were estimated. Overall the validity indexes of MCMI-IV improved compared to the previous version of MCMI but these findings suggested that the diagnostic validity of MCMI-IV was not yet acceptable in some clinical scales and further improvements are needed.

Automated summary

The study assessed the diagnostic validity of the MCMI-IV tool and found that it effectively predicted certain personality and psychiatric disorders, but improvements are needed for other scales.