Validity and Reliability Study of the Turkish Version of the Unbearable Psychache Scale

Background: Suicide is a significant public health issue globally, and psychological pain (psychache) is one of the principal risk factors for suicide. It is suggested that when psych- ache becomes intolerable, suicide attempts are made to get rid of the pain. This study aims to investigate the reliability and validity of the Turkish version of the Unbearable Psychache Scale, which assesses psychache quickly.

Methods: In this study, we included 136 patients with depression, 45 (33.09%) of whom had previous suicide attempts, and 120 healthy controls. The participants filled out the Unbearable Psychache Scale, Beck Depression Inventory, Beck Suicidal Ideation Scale, Beck Hopelessness Scale, Psychache Scale, and Mee-Bunney Psychological Pain Assessment Scale.

Results: The Beck Depression Inventory, Beck Hopelessness Scale, Beck Suicidal Ideation Scale, Psychache Scale, Mee-Bunney Psychological Pain Assessment Scale, and Unbearable Psychache Scale mean scores were significantly higher in the patients than healthy con- trols (P < .001 for each). The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of the Unbearable Psychache Scale was 0.96 in the internal consistency analysis. The item-total score values were between 0.96 and 0.97. The exploratory factor analysis demonstrated that the Unbearable Psychache Scale was loaded under 1 factor with an eigenvalue above 1 and explained 89.80% of the total variance. The factor loads were between 0.94 and 0.96. There was a significant correlation between the Unbearable Psychache Scale and the Beck Depression Inventory, Beck Hopelessness Scale, Beck Suicidal Ideation Scale, Psychache Scale, and Mee-Bunney Psychological Pain Assessment Scale (P < .001 for each). The Unbearable Psychache Scale differentiated 82% of the patients from the control group and 66.90% of the patients with suicidal attempts from those without suicide attempts.

Conclusion: This study demonstrated that the Turkish version of the Unbearable Psychache Scale was valid and reliable and can be used in depressive patients and healthy individuals.

Cite this article as: Namlı Z, Demirkol ME, Tamam L, Karaytuğ MO, Yeşiloğlu C. Validity and reliability study of the Turkish version of the unbearable Psychache scale. Alpha Psychiatry. 2022;23(4):166-172.