MULTISCALE DISSOCIATION INVENTORY (MDI)©
John Briere, Ph.D.
Psychological Trauma Program
Department of Psychiatry and the Behavioral Sciences
Keck School of Medicine
University of Southern California
www.johnbriere.com
jbriere@usc.edu
Citation:
Briere, J. (2002). Multiscale Dissociation Inventory Professional Manual.
Odessa, Florida: Psychological Assessment Resources.
Note to users: Copyright for the MDI has reverted from Psychological Assessment Resources
(PAR) to John Briere, Ph.D., as of 9/2010. As a result, this test is no longer available from PAR.
However, it is currently offered to researchers and clinicians at no cost from the author, as long
as appropriate citation is provided in research documents. Items of the MDI can be imported into
research questionnaires without further permission. The original items booklets, answer sheets,
etc., are no longer available in PAR format.
This packet contains
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A description of the MDI, with representative publications
an MDI scoring sheet
the MDI measure,
an MDI profile form, and
a paper on the structure and validity of the MDI (!"#$"$%&'(%&)$*+,$"-%&.()(%&/&012+3%&4(&
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Description
The MDI is a 30-item self-report test of dissociative symptomatology. It is fully
standardized and normed, and measures six different type of dissociative response. The scales of
the MDI, with their associated alpha reliabilities in the general population (Briere, 2002), are:
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Disengagement (alpha = .83)
Depersonalization (alpha = .90)
Derealization (alpha = .91)
Emotional Constriction/Numbing (alpha = .94)
Memory Disturbance (alpha = .74)
Identity Dissociation (alpha = .75)
Total Dissociation Score (alpha = .96)
The MDI is normed and standardized on 444 trauma-exposed individuals from the
general population, and validated in clinical, community, and university samples. Scores on this
measure can be converted to T-scores that allow for empirically-based clinical interpretation of
clients' actual level of dissociative disturbance.
The MDI has been found to have good psychometric qualities in both the normative and
validation samples. Data on over 1,300 clinical and nonclinical individuals indicates that the
MDI items form five relatively independent factors or dimensions (Briere, Weathers, & Runtz,
2005). A raw Identity Dissociation scale score of 15 or higher identified 93% of those with
diagnosis of Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) and 92% of those with no diagnosis of DID in
a combined clinical/community sample (Briere, 2002). Each MDI symptom item is rated
according to its frequency of occurrence over the prior month, using a scale ranging from 1
(never) to 5 (very often).
The MDI requires approximately 10-15 minutes to complete for all but the most
clinically impaired individuals and usually can be scored and profiled in less than 5 minutes.
Sample of publications using or describing the MDI
Briere, J., Scott, C., & Weathers, F.W. (2005). Peritraumatic and persistent dissociation in the
presumed etiology of PTSD. American Journal of Psychiatry, 162, 2295-2301. [Download is
available at: http://www.johnbriere.com/AJP%20peridiss%20paper.pdf]
Briere, J. (2002). Multiscale Dissociation Inventory. Odessa, Florida: Psychological
Assessment Resources.
Briere, J. (2006). Dissociative symptoms and trauma exposure: Specificity, affect dysregulation,
and posttraumatic stress. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 194, 78-82. [Download is
available at: http://www.johnbriere.com/JNMD%2006%20paper.html]
Briere, J., Hodges, M., & Godbout, N. (in press). Traumatic stress, affect dysregulation, and
dysfunctional avoidance: A structural equation model. Journal of Traumatic Stress.
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Briere, J., Weathers, F.W., & Runtz, M. (2005). Is dissociation a multidimensional construct?
Data from the Multiscale Dissociation Inventory. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 18, 221-231.
[Download is available at: http://www.johnbriere.com/JTS%20MDI%20paper.pdf]
Dietrich, A.M. (2003). Characteristics of child maltreatment, psychological dissociation, and
somatoform dissociation of Canadian inmates. Journal of Trauma and Dissociation, 4, 81-100.
Dietrich, A.m. (2007). Childhood maltreatment and revictimization: the role of affect
dysregulation, interpersonal relatedness difficulties and posttraumatic stress disorder. Journal of
Trauma and Dissociation, 8, 25-51.
Galovski, T.E., & Resick, P.A. (2008). Cognitive processing therapy for posttraumatic stress
disorder secondary to a motor vehicle accident: a single-subject report. Cognitive and Behavioral
Practice, 15, 287-295.
Ginzburg, K., Koopman, C., Butler, L.D., Palesh, O.G., Kraemer, H.C., Classen, C.C., &
Spiegel, D. (2006). Evidence for a dissociative subtype of post-traumatic stress disorder among
help-seeking childhood sexual abuse survivors. Journal of Trauma and Dissociation, 7, 7-27.
Harford, P.M. (2010). The integrative use of EMDR and clinical hypnosis in the treatment of
adults abused as children. Journal of EMDR Practice and Research, 4, 60-75.
Mitchell, J.A. (2006). Symptoms of dissociation in a forensic population. Journal of
Orthomolecular Medicine, 21, 85-94.
Putnam, F.W. (2009). Taking the measure of dissociation. Journal of Trauma & Dissociation,
10, 233 – 236.
Spies, R. A., & Plake, B. S. (Eds.). (2005). The sixteenth mental measurements yearbook.
Lincoln, NE: Buros Institute of Mental Measurements.
Taft, C.T., Resick, P.A, Watkins, L.E., & Panuzio, J. (2009). An investigation of posttraumatic
stress disorder and depressive symptomatology among female victims of interpersonal trauma.
Journal of Family Violence, 24, 407-415.
Multiscale Dissociation Inventory© scoring
Add items to yield raw MDI scale scores. T-scores can be obtained by using the MDI profile
form (attached).
Disengagement: 1 _____ + 7 _____ + 13 _____ + 19 _____ + 25_____ = _______
Depersonalization: 2 _____ + 8_____ + 14_____ + 20_____ + 26_____ = _______
Derealization: 3_____ + 9_____ + 15_____ + 21_____ + 27_____ = _______
Emotional Constriction: 4_____ + 10_____ + 16_____ + 22_____ + 28 _____ = _______
Memory Disturbance: 5_____ + 11_____ + 17_____ + 23_____ + 29______ = _______
Identity Dissociation: 6_____ + 12_____ + 18_____ + 24_____ + 30_____ = _______!
MDI ©
John Briere, Ph.D.
Circle the number that indicates how often each of the following things have happened in the last month:
Never
Once or twice
Sometimes
Often
Very often
1. Absent-mindedness or forgetfulness
1
2
3
4
5
2. Your body feeling like it was someone else’s
1
2
3
4
5
3. Things around you suddenly seeming not quite right, a little bit off
1
2
3
4
5
4. Knowing you must be upset, but not being able to feel it
1
2
3
4
5
5. People telling you that you said or did something that you don’t
remember saying or doing
1
2
3
4
5
6. Feeling like there was more than one person inside of you
1
2
3
4
5
7. Not paying attention because you were in your own world
1
2
3
4
5
8. Your hands or feet not feeling connected to the rest of your body
1
2
3
4
5
9. Feeling like you were in a dream
1
2
3
4
5
10. Not having any emotions or feelings at a time when you should
have been upset
1
2
3
4
5
11. Suddenly realizing that hours had gone by and not knowing what
you had been doing during that time
1
2
3
4
5
12. Having different people inside of you with different names
1
2
3
4
5
Circle the number that indicates how often each of the following things have happened in the last month:
Never
Once or twice
Sometimes
Often
Very often
13. “Spacing out”
1
2
3
4
5
14. Feeling mechanical, like a robot
1
2
3
4
5
15. Things around you suddenly seeming strange
1
2
3
4
5
16. Not being able to feel emotions
1
2
3
4
5
17. Suddenly finding yourself somewhere and not knowing how you
got there
1
2
3
4
5
18. Different people taking charge inside your mind
1
2
3
4
5
19. Driving or walking without noticing where you were going
1
2
3
4
5
20. Feeling outside of yourself
1
2
3
4
5
21. Suddenly things around you not feeling real or familiar
1
2
3
4
5
22. Feeling frozen inside, without feelings
1
2
3
4
5
23. Having blank spells
1
2
3
4
5
24. Switching back and forth between different personalities
1
2
3
4
5
25. Staring into space without thinking
1
2
3
4
5
26. Feeling like you didn’t belong in your body
1
2
3
4
5
27. Your home or work suddenly seeming unfamiliar to you
1
2
3
4
5
28. Knowing you should feel mad or sad about something, but not
having any feelings
1
2
3
4
5
Circle the number that indicates how often each of the following things have happened in the last month:
Never
Once or twice
Sometimes
Often
Very often
29. Realizing that you must have done something that you don’t
remember doing
1
2
3
4
5
30. Feeling like two or more people were fighting or arguing inside of
yourself
1
2
3
4
5