Got my First Class Medical after Personality Disorder misdiagnosis!

[Bumpy Road]

Hello friends!
Just wanted to give a huge shoutout to "Dr Lou" Louis B. Fowler!
Drove to him all the way from Texas to Florida two years ago with a case of personality disorder misdiagnosis and supporting paperwork including two re-evaluations because I heard he was the man and he took care of me and answered all my questions and issued a unrestricted third class on the spot with no other inquiry by the FAA.

Well today - 2 years later - I went back and he issued my first class on the spot and yet again took his time answering all my questions. Thank you Dr. Lou for everything - you and your staff have been amazing and I am not just saying that because of my positive outcome - I mean it.
I recommend everybody who has tricky situations such as cases believed to be misdiagnosis / overdiagnosis to reach out to him and let him help you get your ducks in row - or Dr Chien!

Little back story:
During military re-enlistment I took a ~700 question psychological multiple choice questionnaire, and the results said "answers suggest personality disorder". Important to mention is that I BLEW through that test, not giving it much thought thinking it's something they don't even look at. Surprise surprise they did and I initially got medically denied joining the military, which now has to be disclosed on medical certificate applications.
Had to get re-evaluated twice by civilian board-licensed psychologists to try and get a waiver for enlistment. Took all my paperwork to Dr. Lou and he properly submitted my documentation to the FAA!
FAA never reached out to me in the past 2 years for my third class and we don't expect them to say anything this time either since nothing has changed.


Again - thank you Dr. Lou for all you do!

 

[p1l0t]

I'd love to see the "science" behind that personality test...

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

 

[Bumpy Road]

Those evaluation methods are considered “soft science” for a reason.

It had questions on it such as “Do you get angry often?” (Obviously answered no - everybody gets angry from time to time but do you really want to tell that to your future employer?)

I researched the matter and it appears that the test will fail and “diagnose” you for believing that you are being dishonest. But who in their right mind answers yes to those questions during a hiring process to the military?? Of course people get mad from time to time! It’s part of being human. So if the test thinks that your answers are too optimistic, you are flagged. I am actually a very positive/optimistic person, I do get that a lot. When retaking my evaluations with civilian psychologists I answered more straight forward and harsh, which ended up getting me the all clear.

Dr Lou, who is a FAA HIMS Senior AME trained in evaluating and interpreting mental conditions, mentioned to me that the test results may not be accurate for me anyways because I was raised on the other side of the globe with a different culture (Germany/Eastern Europe) and didn’t move here till high school age. I believe I also red somewhere else that these sorts of evaluations are only accurate for certain regions of the world due to cultural differences.

I may have gotten my first class but I still have this stain of a “diagnosis” on me, which I will have to answer for for the rest of my life to anyone that asks about mental health - misdiagnosed or not.

 

[Anonymous]

I'd love to see the "science" behind that personality test...

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

It's the MMPI. Bad science or not, we all take it as part of the P&P process if deferred for mental health issues. As do controllers and DL pilots as part of the interview process.

Mine had elevated scores in certain areas, and I still got an SI.

 

[smv]

It had questions on it such as “Do you get angry often?” (Obviously answered no - everybody gets angry from time to time but do you really want to tell that to your future employer?)

Did it also ask if you were still beating your wife?

 

[PeterNSteinmetz]

I don’t believe a PD is normally a bar to an FAA medical, unless manifested by overt acts. However, if it resulted in the military enlistment denial, then I guess that is an issue?

The MMPI is of course purely based on correlations between answers to those questions and clinical diagnoses in a large number of people.

 

[A Martin]

Off topic but I took a test that really messed with my head.

I had applied for a job with a large firm and they were very strict who they hired , no criminal record , had to be bonded , plus a series of IQ tests and personality tests. I made it thru them all no problem and had the job providing I passed the very last test ..... looked easy , it was a single sheet of paper.

The manager placed it face up on the desk in front of me and told me to read it carefully and follow instructions perfectly.

Easiest test I ever took , multiple choice and I breezed through them in two minutes .... at the bottom of the page it said "turn the paper over" .... so I did .... and at the top of the page it said ... "Do not look at the other side until you have answered the questions on this side "

Trouble was it was impossible to answer the second set of questions without referring to the first set of questions on the other side.

I figured they had a hidden camera in the cubicle to see what I would do .... but at that point I was so ticked off I decided I didn't want to work for the company and I opened the door and waved the manager over.

When he saw I didn't answer the questions he said congratulations .... you got the job.

He said if I had answered the questions it meant that I cheated and they would never hire me.

 

[smv]

Off topic but I took a test that really messed with my head.

I had applied for a job with a large firm and they were very strict who they hired , no criminal record , had to be bonded , plus a series of IQ tests and personality tests. I made it thru them all no problem and had the job providing I passed the very last test ..... looked easy , it was a single sheet of paper.

The manager placed it face up on the desk in front of me and told me to read it carefully and follow instructions perfectly.

Easiest test I ever took , multiple choice and I breezed through them in two minutes .... at the bottom of the page it said "turn the paper over" .... so I did .... and at the top of the page it said ... "Do not look at the other side until you have answered the questions on this side "

Trouble was it was impossible to answer the second set of questions without referring to the first set of questions on the other side.

I figured they had a hidden camera in the cubicle to see what I would do .... but at that point I was so ticked off I decided I didn't want to work for the company and I opened the door and waved the manager over.

When he saw I didn't answer the questions he said congratulations .... you got the job.

He said if I had answered the questions it meant that I cheated and they would never hire me.

I have seen a similar test that came with the instructions "Read the entire test before answering any questions." At the bottom of the last page was the instruction "Do not answer any of the questions. Fill in your information at the top of Page 1, sign the bottom of the last page, and turn in your test."

 

[Bumpy Road]

I don’t believe a PD is normally a bar to an FAA medical, unless manifested by overt acts. However, if it resulted in the military enlistment denial, then I guess that is an issue?

The MMPI is of course purely based on correlations between answers to those questions and clinical diagnoses in a large number of people.

Unfortunately the military denies enlistment regardless of severity and a service waiver is required.
It also did not help that there was a significant vocabulary barrier - I could not understand many of the questions on the first test due to a mild language barrier (more of a vocabulary barrier) - I have been living in the US for a few years now but every now and then I see words I still do not know the meaning of.

Id say I answered a good 30-40 questions randomly just because of the language barrier alone - again - I did not think this test was a potential deal breaker.
The burden of proof is also on the applicant - you have to prove that the MEPS "diagnosis" was incorrest, which means $$$.
My initial waiver got outright denied so I spent a ton of money out of pocket and went to a law enforcement contractor psychologist here in Dallas TX, who administers psychological evaluations for many of the major police departments around here.
She had an interview session with me for maybe half an hour to an hour and then she administered a test called the MMPI-2 and a test called the MCMI-IV.
It looked very similar to the test I took at MEPS, however this time I red and answered it slowly and if I did not understand a word, I asked for help.
I got the results back about a week later in a sealed envelope (later found out that I did good after I got a copy), which had to be forwarded to the commander of the recruiting battalion.

 

[bflynn]

Those evaluation methods are considered “soft science” for a reason.

I just took a personality test for work. It told me I'm not confident in what I do, yet I've been working as a consultant at it for over 20 years, some of that independently.

I know the questions they used to draw that conclusion and it's because my style is to consider options in light of the customer's desired outcomes rather than immediately answering based on experience. Anyone in supply chain execution who doesn't do that invariably finds that they make a mis-step because they didn't understand the business problem correctly. It's weird, but everything in this business is different because it's all affected by conditions: the product being moved, personnel abilities, building configurations, customer demands, and more. You can start out doing the same basic task at two different companies and wind up doing it in very different ways.

In any case, I'm not worried about it right now. Their science is incomplete and they don't know why.