Addressing Suffering in Patients With Psychiatric Disorders

Area of Science:

• Psychiatry
• Clinical Psychology
• Medical Humanities

Background:

• Psychiatric patients frequently report suffering, a severe, prolonged distress distinct from pain, depression, or anxiety.
• Suffering is not indexed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition, despite its significance in patient experience.
• This article explores the independent clinical value of addressing suffering in psychiatric care.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine if suffering per se warrants independent clinical attention in psychiatric patients.
• To evaluate how targeting suffering can enhance psychiatric patient care.
• To propose a definition and potential measurement approaches for suffering in psychiatric disorders.

Main Methods:

• Selective literature search in PubMed using keywords: "suffering," "psychiatric disorder," "mental illness," "assessment," "measurement," "scale," "existential suffering," and "unbearable suffering."
• Snowball technique applied to relevant articles to identify additional pertinent literature.
• Synthesis of findings to define suffering and explore its assessment in psychiatric populations.

Main Results:

• Suffering is defined by its subjectivity, particularity, complexity, and connection to a broad range of noxious sensations and deficits.
• It encompasses universal human needs, from biological to existential concerns like meaning and purpose.
• While measurement efforts are limited, several scales show potential for studying suffering in psychiatric disorders.

Conclusions:

• Identifying and addressing the multidimensional sources of suffering in psychiatric patients may improve treatment quality and satisfaction.
• New inquiry methods and additional time may be needed to ascertain the sources of suffering.
• Evidence-informed strategies and psychotherapy techniques exist to address concerns contributing to suffering.