The Importance of Mental Pain and Physical Dissociation in Youth Suicidality

Abstract

This study examines the importance of two suicide risk factors, mental pain and physical dissociation, among young people. Participants were 42 suicidal inpatients, 36 nonsuicidal inpatients, and 45 nonclinical participants. Overall, suicide attempters reported a stronger intensity of and lower tolerance for mental pain and more physical dissociation compared to the other two groups. Suicide attempters with a low tolerance for mental pain showed a higher level of dissociation from pain and insensitivity to bodily cues compared to nonsuicidal inpatients with similar levels of tolerance for mental pain. Physical dissociation contributed significantly to the likelihood of suicidality beyond the contribution of mental pain. Our results accentuate the importance of the combination of mental pain and physical dissociation in suicidality. Further research on the applicability of our findings to self-injurious behavior is warranted.

KEYWORDS:

• suicide
• mental pain
• dissociation
• inpatients
• young adults
• adolescents

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This study was done in partial fulfillment of the first author’s requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Psychology of Bar Ilan University, Israel (doctoral supervisors: Mario Mikulincer, PhD, and Naomi Bat-Zion, PhD).

The authors thank Drs. David Ben Dor, Nachum Katz, Tzvi Fischel, Avi Valevski, and Dov Aizenberg for providing data and allowing access to their patients.