Use of the MMPI to uncover histories of childhood abuse in adult female psychiatric patients.

Psychiatric hospital records of 182 adult females were reviewed to determine feasibility of using the MMPI to uncover repressed histories of childhood abuse. Charts with MMPI profiles that met the standard and extended Scarlett O'Hara V configurations were examined for histories of childhood sexual or physical abuse and exposure to parental alcoholism. Findings were compared with a representative sample of control patients who did not have Scarlett O'Hara V configurations. Results showed that the MMPI can help detect adults who as children were sexually or nonsexually abused, or had alcoholic caretakers, or a combination of the above.