THE UTILITY OF THE MEGARGEE-BOHN TYPOLOGY IN A FORENSIC PSYCHIATRIC-HOSPITAL

The utility of the Megargee-Bohn MMPI typology (Megargee & Bohn, 1979) was examined in 1007 male forensic psychiatric inpatients. The 10 pro file types were identified although the proportions differed as expect ed from the original sample. Comparison of demographic, clinical, and forensic characteristics revealed significant differences between 9 of the profile types. Our findings indicate that the typology can reliab ly and usefully describe different categories of patients in our setti ng. The typology can also be used to make inferences about treatment n eeds. Our findings support the continued development of an MMPI-based actuarial system for criminal populations as has been done for psychia tric populations.