Mental pain intensity and tolerance as predictors of psychotherapy process and outcome

Abstract

Background: The extensive reliance on symptoms for the study of psychotherapy is often criticized. In this study we examined whether the subjective sense of mental pain predicts psychotherapy process and outcome, above and beyond the effect of symptomatic distress. Methods: Outpatients (n = 53) treated in a psychiatric hospital completed measures of mental pain intensity and tolerance, symptomatic distress, and session climate at pretreatment and posttreatment. Multilevel modeling was utilized to assess the predictive effect of mental pain, while controlling baseline symptomatic distress. Results: Patients with high mental pain at baseline showed significant reductions in distress, while patients with low mental pain showed no significant improvement. Moreover, low mental pain and high mental pain tolerance predicted decreases in session smoothness. Conclusions: Mental pain can serve as a predictive marker for psychotherapy process and outcome, and complement the reliance on symptomatic distress in psychotherapy research.

Mental Pain, Psychological Distress, and Suicidal Ideation During the COVID-19 Emergency: the Moderating Role of Tolerance for Mental Pain

“…Because of the negative mental health impact of mental pain intensity during the COVID-19 lockdown and the adverse repercussions of previous epidemics on mental health and suicide (Zortea et al, 2020), it is important that public health interventions will be developed to bolster tolerance for psychological suffering during and after the COVID-19 outbreak. A recent study has further highlighted mental pain tolerance as associated with better psychotherapeutic outcomes, underlying the importance of implementing psychotherapeutic interventions during the current pandemic and reinforcing tolerance for mental pain within the interventions (Grossman-Giron et al, 2020).…”

Mental Pain Surrounding Suicidal Behaviour: A Review of What Has Been Described and Clinical Recommendations for Help

“…Among them are attention, memory, executive function, metacognition, and attribution of intentions. The goal of these interventions is to stabilise and generalise both intrapersonal and interpersonal functioning (52)(53)(54)(55)(56)(57)(58)(59)(60)(61)(62)(63)(64).…”