Therapeutic Personality Assessment with Couples: A Short-Term Therapy Model

This paper focuses on the importance of psychological assessment as a short-term therapeutic tool for use in couples therapy. Personality assessment, when used collaboratively, can be a vital contribution to the therapeutic environment and can help couples can insight into each other's character traits and behavior patterns. This paper addresses the need for a short-term model of couples therapy for couples where one partner is incarcerated. The author proposes using a slightly modified version of Finn's Therapeutic Assessment for couples - Therapeutic Personality Assessment for Couples for a Prison Setting (TPAC-PS). A future research paradigm is suggested to test the validity of the TPAC-PS model.

Adult Attachment Style on the MMPI-2: Does an Elevated Scale 4 Predict Dismissing Attachment?

This study examines some aspects of Caldwell's (200 I) hypotheses about the adaptations associated with elevations on the clinical scales of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Assessment-2 (MMPI-2). The argument is made that the adaptation to early rejection and neglect, which he attributes to Scale 4, parallels the adaptation represented by a dismissing attachment. Archival data of 72 individuals who completed assessment batteries that included both the MMPI-2 and that Adult Attachment Projective (AAP) were analyzed to determine if there was a relationship between elevations on Scale 4 and classification as dismissing attachment. No significant relationship was found for the primary hypothesis; however, some small effects were noted in related exploratory analyses. Possible reasons for the lack of a significant result are discussed a well as directions for future research.