An Evaluation of the Psychache Scale on an Offender Population

Abstract

This study examined the generalizability of a self-report measure of psychache to an offender population. The factor structure, construct validity, and criterion validity of the Psychache Scale was assessed on 136 male prison inmates. The results showed the Psychache Scale has a single underlying factor structure and to be strongly associated with measures of depression and hopelessness and moderately associated with psychiatric symptoms and the criterion variable of a history of prior suicide attempts. The variables of depression, hopelessness, and psychiatric symptoms all contributed unique variance to psychache. Discussion centers on psychache's theoretical application to the prediction of suicide.

Effects of life satisfaction and psychache on risk for suicidal behaviour: a cross-sectional study based on data from Chinese undergraduates

“…Psychache had stronger power in predicting suicidal ideation and suicide attempt than life satisfaction, as evidenced by its larger standardised regression coefficients. This result is in line with the finding from other studies testing Shneidman's theory with samples of general population41 and special groups as offenders,33 42 homeless people20 and patients with mental illness 43. The result supports Shneidman's view that psychache is a fundamentally important predictor for suicidal behaviour.…”

“…In order to precisely capture the level of psychache, we constructed a continuous variable to categorise the score into five levels defined after taking into account the frequency distribution and score value as 1=13–15, 2=16–19, 3=20–22, 4=23–26 and 5=27–65. The α reliability coefficients of this scale were generally exceeding 0.90,22 33 and the scale could distinguish between suicide attempters and non-attempters 22. In the present study, the α reliability coefficient was 0.92.…”

Psychological Models of Suicide

“…Initial support for psychache as a factor in suicide is strong. Psychache has been shown to be a significant predictor of suicide ideation and attempts (Flynn & Holden, 2007;Holden, Mehta, Cunningham et al, 2001;Mills, Green, & Reddon, 2005;Patterson & Holden, 2012;Pereira, Kroner, Holden et al, 2010;Troister & Holden, 2010a;Troister & Holden, 2010b). Research has also supported Shneidman's assertion that the relationship of other factors with suicide is mediated by psychache, and that psychache and suicide ideation co-vary over time (DeLisle & Holden, 2009;Troister & Holden, 2012 Troister & Holden, 2012).…”

Resting-state EEG delta power is associated with psychological pain in adults with a history of depression

“…Nine items are scored on a frequency scale ranging from never to always and four items are scored on a symmetrical scale ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree. The instrument is well validated in diverse populations, including outpatients with depression, male prison inmates, students at risk for suicide, and homeless men (Li et al, 2013; Mills, Green, & Reddon, 2005; Patterson & Holden, 2012; Troister & Holden, 2012; Xie et al, 2013). The OMMP questionnaire is a 44-item instrument that assesses both current psychological pain (OMMP_c, at the time the questionnaire was completed) and worst-ever psychological pain (OMMP_w), resulting in a continuous total score (range 44 – 220) for each.…”