MMPI-2 schizophrenia spectrum profiles among schizotypal college students and college students who seek psychological treatment.

The MMPI-2 schizophrenia spectrum profiles of 25 college students with extreme scores on the Perceptual Aberration and Magical Ideation Scales were compared to those of 27 students who requested psychological treatment at a university psychology clinic. Moldin, Gottesman, and Erlenmeyer-Kimling's 1987 classification strategy for schizophrenia spectrum disorders identified 66% of the students who did not seek psychological treatment and had high scores on the Perceptual Aberration and Magical Ideation Scales as having an 8-6, 8-9, or a 9-8 MMPI-2 profile. Of the students who requested psychological treatment, 25% produced MMPI-2 schizophrenia spectrum profiles. Of these, 63% produced a 2-7-8 code profile. Additional analyses showed that only some of the students who requested psychological treatment and produced a 2-7-8 MMPI-2 profile exhibited schizotypal features and that this group stayed in therapy longer than students without schizophrenia spectrum profiles. These results suggest that only a subset of the students with high scores on the Perceptual Aberration and Magical Ideation Scales produce schizophrenia spectrum MMPI-2 profiles and that these profiles are substantially different from those produced by students with high scores on the Revised Social Anhedonia Scale and from schizotypal college students who seek psychological treatment.