Suicidality in chronic pain: a review of the prevalence, risk factors and psychological links

Nicole K. Y. Tang · Catherine Crane

639 citations0/0 files storedPsychological Medicine

No readable copy stored yet — this record is metadata only.

No open-access location is known for this record yet.

Literature note Cite in a project Citation map

Suicide and Self-Harm Studies Musculoskeletal pain and rehabilitation Opioid Use Disorder Treatment

Abstract

BACKGROUND: This paper reviews and integrates the growing literature concerning the prevalence of and risk factors for suicidality in chronic pain. METHOD: A series of systematic searches in MEDLINE and PsychINFO identified 12 relevant articles examining suicide, suicide attempts, and suicidal ideation in chronic pain. A selection of theoretical and empirical work identifying psychological processes that have been implicated in both the pain and suicide literature and which may be related to increased suicidality was also reviewed. RESULTS: Relative to controls, risk of death by suicide appeared to be at least doubled in chronic pain patients. The lifetime prevalence of suicide attempts was between 5% and 14% in individuals with chronic pain, with the prevalence of suicidal ideation being approximately 20%. Eight risk factors for suicidality in chronic pain were identified, including the type, intensity and duration of pain and sleep-onset insomnia co-occurring with pain, which appeared to be pain-specific. Helplessness and hopelessness about pain, the desire for escape from pain, pain catastrophizing and avoidance, and problem-solving deficits were highlighted as psychological processes relevant to the understanding of suicidality in chronic pain. CONCLUSIONS: Programmatic research is urgently required to investigate the role of both general and pain-specific risk factors for suicidality, to examine how the psychological processes mentioned above mediate or exacerbate suicidality, and to develop enhanced interventions for pain patients at risk.

Paper brief

Loading…

Cite this work

Citation unavailable for this work.

BibTeX RIS CSL-JSON

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Citations in this library

Citation map →

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 639 citations exist upstream.

References

1975Helplessness: On Depression, Development, and Death 1999Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: An Experiential Approach to Behavior Change 1989Hopelessness depression: A theory-based subtype of depression.1979Assessment of suicidal intention: The Scale for Suicide Ideation.1997Suicide as an outcome for mental disorders 1999Prevalence of and Risk Factors for Lifetime Suicide Attempts in the National Comorbidity Survey 1990Suicide as escape from self.1985Hopelessness and eventual suicide: a 10-year prospective study of patients hospitalized with suicidal ideation

Cited by

2017Chronic pain and suicide risk: A comprehensive review 2008Chronic Pain Conditions and Suicidal Ideation and Suicide Attempts: An Epidemiologic Perspective 2010Suicide prevention by limiting access to methods: A review of theory and practice 2013Noncancer Pain Conditions and Risk of Suicide 2010Chronic Physical Conditions and Their Association With First Onset of Suicidal Behavior in the World Mental Health Surveys

Explore the map →

Papers that cite the same references — the relational fallback while embeddings are still backfilling.

Imported from OpenAlex (CC0) — nothing here is generated.