Citation

Lewis KC, Good EW, Tillman JG, Hopwood CJ. Arch. Suicide Res. 2021; 25(3): 552-569.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2021, International Academy of Suicide Research, Publisher Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/13811118.2020.1729914

PMID

32089105

Abstract

Psychological pain is an important contributing factor to suicide risk. The present study examined the psychometric properties of the Psychic Pain Scale (PPS), a new measure assessing unbearable negative affect as described in Maltsberger's theory of suicidality. The PPS was administered to n = 131 adult psychiatric patients as well as n = 953 undergraduate students. An initial factor analysis which replicated across both clinical and undergraduate samples identified two factors, affective deluge, and loss of control. These subscales were associated with risk factors including trauma history, severity of psychopathology, and decreased resilience, as well as a range of pathological personality traits.

FINDINGS support the utility of the PPS as a measure of psychological pain and point to future directions of empirical evaluation.

Language: en

Keywords

Humans; Risk Factors; Adult; Students; suicide; Affect; psychopathology; Psychometrics; personality; Pain; psychological pain