Rod-and-Frame and MMPI Scores for a Group of Female Psychiatric Inpatients

Abstract

75 recently admitted female psychiatric inpatients were given the rod-and-frame task and the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI). All patients with an admission diagnosis of schizophrenia, organic brain syndrome, or a reported history of alcoholism or previous electroconvulsive therapy were excluded from the study. Personality disturbance, as measured by the MMPI, for the remaining 75 patients, was significantly less severe for extremely high-error (field dependent) rod-and-frame performers than for other patients in the sample. Hospital records and performance on self-rating scales showed, however, that patients with a high rate of error on rod-and-frame performance were subjectively as uncomfortable as the others tested. Results are discussed in terms of the possible contribution of perceptual impairment to the psychological complaints made by these individuals.