The aim of this study was to examine the usability of MMPI-2 validity scales, clinical scales, content scales and Goldberg’s index in the differential diagnosis of schizophrenic and nonpsychotic psychiatric disorders. The study included 51 persons (18 men and 33 women) with schizophrenia aged 18 to 58 years as well as 47 women aged 18 to 53 years diagnosed with an anxiety disorder. The results of the discriminant analysis show that Goldberg’s index and results on scales L, Sc, Hs, Hy and Fp significantly contribute to group discrimination. Persons with schizophrenia had a significantly higher Goldberg’s index and results on scales L, Sc and Fp, and significantly lower results on scales Hs and Hy in relation to persons with nonpsychotic psychiatric disorders. Based on discriminatory variable results, it was possible to correctly classify 84.3% of persons with schizophrenia and 76.6% of persons with nonpsychotic psychiatric disorders. Goldberg’s index values, which mostly contributed to group discrimination, are high in both groups (persons with schizophrenia: M = 72.96, sd = 30.11; persons with nonpsychotic psychiatric disorders: M = 52.26, sd = 24.69), which calls into question the appropriateness of a cutoff point of 45 and leads to the conclusion that the optimum cutoff point for differentiation between nonpsychotic and psychotic psychiatric disorders should be higher. The relatively modest contribution of individual scales to group discrimination and the absence of significant differences between groups on the BIZ scale show that individual scales should by no means be relied on when drawing conclusions.

MMPI-2, schizophrenia, nonpsychotic psychiatric disorders, Goldberg’s indeks