Korsakoff's syndrome on the MMPI-2.

BACKGROUND: This article describes an exploratory study of MMPI-2 administration to 20 patients with Korsakoff's disease, all admitted to the Korsakoff unit of a major psychiatric hospital in the Netherlands.

METHODS: We compared their MMPI-2 basic profiles with those of an inpatient alcohol-dependent non-Korsakoff group. Attention was also given to content scales and some selected supplementary scales. Furthermore, we explored the differences between MMPI-2 profiles of Korsakoff patients with and without insight into oneself and one's disease.

RESULTS: Compared with both the Dutch norms and the scale means of the non-Korsakoff alcoholics, Korsakoff patients showed an extraordinary flat profile. Illness insight appeared to be related to the levels of the various scales.

DISCUSSION: The results show the potential usefulness of the MMPI-2 in the differential diagnosis of chronic alcoholism and Korsakoff's disease.