Thresholds and tolerance of physical pain in suicidal and nonsuicidal adolescents.
It was hypothesized that suicidal inpatient adolescents (n = 38) will exhibit a higher tolerance for physical pain than nonsuicidal inpatients (n = 29) and control participants (n = 34). Participants provided self-reports of hopelessness, dissociation, suicidal tendencies, depression, and anxiety and were administered a series of thermal pain stimuli by means of a Thermal Sensory Analyzer (TSA). The suicidal participants significantly differed from the 2 controls in pain thresholds and tolerance and in most self-report measures, even after controlling for motivation, medication, diagnosis, and length of hospitalization. Significant correlations were found between pain measures and self-report measures. The results were discussed in terms of the role that body experiences play in suicidal behavior.
Orbach
I
I
Department of Psychology, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel.
Mikulincer
M
M
King
R
R
Cohen
D
D
Stein
D
D
D000293:Adolescent; D000298:Adolescent, Hospitalized / Q000523:psychology*; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D004924:Escape Reaction / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006358:Hot Temperature / Q000009:adverse effects*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010146:Pain / Q000523:psychology*; D017288:Pain Threshold / Q000523:psychology; D012044:Regression Analysis; D013405:Suicide / Q000523:psychology*; D013406:Suicide, Attempted / Q000523:psychology