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.