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A Brief Measure of Unbearable Psychache
Author(s) -
Pachkowski Mikayla C.,
May Alexis M.,
Tsai Michelle,
Klonsky E. David
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
suicide and life‐threatening behavior
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.544
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1943-278X
pISSN - 0363-0234
DOI - 10.1111/sltb.12556
Subject(s) - suicidal ideation , psychology , clinical psychology , reliability (semiconductor) , scale (ratio) , belongingness , convergent validity , psychometrics , psychiatry , medicine , psychotherapist , suicide prevention , poison control , medical emergency , power (physics) , physics , quantum mechanics , internal consistency
Objective Psychache has been proposed to cause suicide when it becomes unbearable. However, existing measures of psychache do not directly target unbearable psychache. Thus, the purpose of the current study was to provide initial validation for a brief measure of unbearable psychache. Method Three items were selected to create the Unbearable Psychache Scale ( UP 3). Psychometric properties were assessed in two populations: (1) an online sample composed of 1,006 adults (53% male) from various locations in the United States and (2) a sample of 190 psychiatric inpatient adults (47% male) from a hospital in Western Canada. Results In both samples, the UP 3 demonstrated excellent internal reliability, and strong convergent and predictive validity. Additionally, the UP 3 predicted significant variance in suicidal ideation over and above documented correlates of suicidal ideation including general psychache, hopelessness, perceived burdensomeness, and low belongingness. Conclusions The UP 3 is a brief, psychometrically sound measure of unbearable psychache that may be well‐suited for use in research protocols and clinical assessments.