Background: It has been suggested that psychological pain ("psychache") is a key factor in the suicidal process. In addition, suicidal acts may be best understood within a stress-vulnerability model. We hypothesized that more intense psychache during a major depressive episode would be a factor of vulnerability to suicidal behavior.
Methods: Patients hospitalized for a major depressive episode, including 87 individuals with a recent history of suicidal acts, 61 individuals with a past history of suicidal acts, and 62 individuals without any suicidal history, were assessed at admission using several Visual Analog scales to measure levels of psychache, physical pain and suicidal ideation.
Results: Patients with a recent or past history of suicide attempts expressed significantly higher levels of current psychological pain, and a higher intensity and frequency of current suicidal ideation than patients without any history of suicidal acts. The level of current psychache was significantly and positively associated with intensity and frequency of suicidal ideation. There were no between-group differences for physical pain.
Limitations: Medication status was not controlled. A lack of statistical power may have masked an association between physical pain and suicidal ideation.
Conclusions: Higher psychological pain during a major depressive episode may be a factor of vulnerability to suicidal behavior, by increasing the propensity to suicidal ideation. Measuring and taking care of psychache during a depressive episode should be a major therapeutic target during crisis intervention.