What is it about?
This study showed that the Manifestations of Psychiatric Severity Index (MoPSI), a 6-item administrative measure, had construct, concurrent, and--especially--predictive validity in a nationally representative, gender-stratified sample of post 9/11 Veterans who had filed for PTSD disability benefits. Higher MoPSI scores predicted PTSD, anxiety, and depression symptom severity 6 months later and disability benefit award one year later.
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Why is it important?
After 50 years of repurposing administrative data to measure population health, one might think there would be at least ONE ordinal, administrative measure of psychiatric severity, but, prior to the MoPSI, there was not. To our knowledge, the MoPSI is the only administrative measure of psychiatric severity with ordinal and interval properties. This means that it can be used as either a predictor or an outcome variable in studies.
Perspectives
My team was shocked when we needed an administrative measure of psychiatric severity and discovered there were no viable options for us. Our need to create such a measure opened up a lot of fun avenues of research, including developing the JPD method of index creation and then exploring simplifications of the approach.
Dr. Maureen Murdoch
Minneapolis VA Health Care System
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Validity of a New Administrative Measure of Psychiatric Severity in a Prospective Sample of Veterans Applying for PTSD Disability Benefits: The Manifestations of Psychiatric Severity Index (MoPSI), Psychiatry International, February 2026, MDPI AG,
DOI: 10.3390/psychiatryint7010034.
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