Mental Defeat in Chronic Pain: Initial Exploration of the Concept

Mental Defeat Is Associated With Suicide Intent in Patients With Chronic Pain

“…Mean scores and standard deviations of BHS (hopelessness), PSEQ (pain self efficacy), CIPS (pain catastrophising) and PSPS (mental defeat) of the current sample were comparable to values previously published for chronic pain patients [19,35,36,41].…”

“…The PSPS had a one-factor solution and demonstrated excellent internal consistency (Cronbach α = 0.98) and test-retest reliability (r = 0.92) when used with patients with chronic pain [19].…”

“…It has been suggested that people most distressed and disabled by chronic pain are characterised by a sense of mental defeat, a state of mind marked by a loss of autonomy, agency and human integrity [19]. Mental defeat encapsulates the deeper impact of chronic pain on a person's sense of self and identity.…”

“…In fact, in the depression and PTSD literature, mental defeat has been highlighted as a key cognitive predictor of symptom severity and treatment response [20][21][22][23]. Using the Pain Self Perception Scale (PSPS) to measure mental defeat, it has been found that the level of mental defeat was much elevated in patients with chronic pain compared with patients with acute pain, community volunteers with chronic or acute pain, and pain-free controls [19]. A strong sense of mental defeat has also been linked to worse functioning [24] and breakdowns of self-management, with treatment-seeking chronic pain patients scoring significantly higher on the PSPS compared with non-treatment seeking counterparts of matching pain intensity [19].…”

“…Using the Pain Self Perception Scale (PSPS) to measure mental defeat, it has been found that the level of mental defeat was much elevated in patients with chronic pain compared with patients with acute pain, community volunteers with chronic or acute pain, and pain-free controls [19]. A strong sense of mental defeat has also been linked to worse functioning [24] and breakdowns of self-management, with treatment-seeking chronic pain patients scoring significantly higher on the PSPS compared with non-treatment seeking counterparts of matching pain intensity [19]. Mental defeat has also been implicated in precipitating suicide with effects not immediately explained by comorbid depression [25][26][27][28].…”