DEFENSE-MECHANISMS AND PERSONALITY-DISORDERS - AN EMPIRICAL-TEST OF MILLON THEORY

The purpose of this study was to investigate Millon's hypothesized rel ationships between particular personality disorders and specific defen se mechanisms. One hundred thirty psychiatric inpatients and outpatien ts, all diagnosed with an Axis II personality disorder, completed the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-II (MCMI-I; Millon, 1987) and the Defense Mechanism Inventory (DMI; Ihilevich & Gleser, 1986). Analyses revealed strong corroborating evidence for a number of the hypothesiz ed relationships, including significant correlations between antisocia l traits and acting out, obsessive-compulsive traits and reaction form ation, paranoid traits and projection, passive-aggressive traits and d isplacement, and self-defeating traits and devaluation. There was also a trend suggesting the presence of a relationship between dependent p ersonality traits and introjection. A factor analysis was also perform ed that suggested that method variance may be responsible for either l owered correlations between the MCMI-II and DMI or lack of significanc e for some predicted relationships. Results are discussed in terms of existing theory and research, and implications for treatment and futur e research are briefly addressed.