Battered or Schizophrenic? Psychological Tests Can't Tell (From Feminist Perspectives on Wife Abuse, P 200-216, 1988, Kersti Yllo and Michelle Bograd, eds. -- See NCJ 119043)

• NCJ Number: 119052
• Author(s): L B Rosewater
• Date Published: 1988
• Length: 17 pages
• Sale Source: Sage Publications, Inc
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: *This document is currently unavailable from NCJRS.

Annotation

This study found both that violence intensifies psychological dysfunction and that battered women appear similar to schizophrenic women on a major clinical diagnostic tool.

Abstract

Subjects in this study consisted of 118 battered women, all but 12 in currently abusive situations. The women were requested to take the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI). The traits measured for currently battered women on the MMPI were reactive states, not character traits. This shows how battered women are frequently misdiagnosed as borderline personality disorders. Repeatedly, professionals fail to distinguish the symptoms of victims of violence from the symptoms of the sufferers of mental illness. Incorrect diagnosis may lead to the question of whether any diagnosis ought to be used at all. Treating the source of the problem, not merely the symptoms, is advocated, especially when domestic violence research is criticized for patriarchal bias and victim blaming. 1 note, 1 table, and 34 references.