Content and restructured clinical(RC) scales of the MMPI-2 were used to examine the capacity
of these scales to assist in the differential diagnosis of a sample of 185 psychiatric patients –
111 with schizophrenia(77 with paranoid type) and 74 with unipolar depressive disorder.
Results indicated the depression group obtained significantly higher mean scale scores on the
clinical scales of Hs, D, and Hy; the content scales of ANX, DEP, HEA, and TRT; the RC
scales of RCd and RC1. Consistent with the previous literature, the content scales BIZ was
useful to distinguish schizophrenia from depressive disorder. However, the RC scales do not
possess incremental information pertinent to differentiate between the two groups beyond what
is found in the MMPI-2 clinical and content scales. The schizophrenia group showed normal
profile, which can be related to clinical states and subtypes (paranoid versus non-paranoid type)
of schizophrenia. The depression group profile has the highest mean elevations on not only the
depression-related scales (D, DEP, and RCd) but also the hypochondriasis-related scales (Hs,
HEA, and RC1).