Mental Pain: a Multidimensional Operationalization and Definition

3 studies are presented. The first describes the operationalization of mental pain & the factor structure of the items produced by a content analysis of self-reports yielding a scale with 9 factors: the experience of irreversibility, loss of control, narcissistic wounds, emotional flooding, freezing, estrangement, confusion, social distancing, & emptiness. Study 2 tested the relationship between mental pain & depression & anxiety in a normal population. Study 3 focused on the relationship between mental pain & coping. (39 refs)