Assessment of psychological pain in clinical and non-clinical samples: A preliminary investigation using the psychic pain scale

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.