Psychological Pain in Suicidal and Non-Suicidal Populations: Findings from the Translated German Mee-Bunney Psychological Pain Assessment Scale.

Objective: Assessing psychological pain is crucial for evaluating suicide risk. This study examined differences in psychological pain between patients with suicide attempts, those with suicidal ideation, clinical, and non-clinical controls using a newly translated German version of the Mee-Bunney Psychological Pain Assessment Scale (MBPPAS).

Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted with two independent samples collected a different sites (sample 1: n = 409; sample 2: n = 171), resulting in a total sample of N = 580 (59% female; age: M = 34.6, SD = 13.2). All analyses were conducted on the combined full sample. Participants were divided into four groups: patients with a suicide attempt (SUAT), patients with suicidal ideation but no lifetime suicide attempt (SUID), clinical control patients without suicidal ideation or attempts (CLIN), and non-clinical control participants (HLTH). MBPPAS scores were compared across groups.

Results: SUAT reported significantly higher psychological pain than SUID (p < .001, d = 0.42), CLIN (p < .001, d = 1.46), and HLTH (p < .001, d = 1.04). SUID had significantly higher MBPPAS scores than both CLIN (p < .001, d = 3.01) and HLTH (p < .001, d = 2.57). Internal consistency of the German MBPPAS was excellent (α = .93, ω = .93), and the scale showed good psychometric properties regarding convergent, incremental, and criterion validity.

Conclusions: The findings highlight significant differences in psychological pain across clinical and control groups, supporting the utility of the German MBPPAS in identifying psychological pain in patients at varying levels of suicide risk.