ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the rationale for the development of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2-Restructured Form (MMPI-2-RF) and its psychometric properties. Of the MMPI-2-RF substantive scales, RC1 and the Somatic/Cognitive scales are most directly relevant to evaluating somatization and the possibility of a somatoform disorder. The somatoform disorders are characterized by the presence of medically unexplained symptoms that cause clinically significant distress or impairment in social or occupational functioning and are not under voluntary control. Somatoform disorders are commonly associated with work disability and are often the subject of workers' compensation, personal injury, or medical disability claims. In such settings the incentives for symptom exaggeration and malingering to obtain or enhance disability benefits can be substantial. The chapter presents the case of a personal injury disability claimant with differential diagnoses involving Somatoform Disorder and malingering. The MMPI-2-RF Restructured Clinical (RC) and somatic/cognitive scales suggest that a diagnosis under the somatoform disorders could be a consideration in the differential diagnosis.
