Utility and stability of the basic personality inventory in psychiatric patients with longstanding psychotic disorders in a new psychiatric rehabilitation program over a two-year period.

ABSTRACT

34 long-term psychiatric patients with psychotic-type diagnoses, participating in a Psychiatric Rehabilitation program, completed the Basic Personality Inventory 5 times at 6-mo. intervals. In comparison with normative data, participants had statistically significant (p < .01) higher means at Time 1, indicating greater reported psychopathology on all scales except Interpersonal Problems. Program participants also showed greater impairment than a heterogeneous group of 112 psychiatric patients, with statistically higher means on the scales of Denial, Persecutory Ideas, Thinking Disorder, and Self-depreciation. No statistically significant differences were found for sex, time, or their interaction. Correlations indicated high stability in the scale scores over time. Considerable stability in test scores over time does not indicate lack of program success but reflects stability maintenance goals and processes in patients with longstanding psychotic disorders.