Psychological Pain, Anger Rumination, and Its Relation with Suicidal Ideations among Patients with Major Depressive Disorder

Worldwide, anger rumination has been associated with aversive psychological outcomes including depression and suicidal ideation over time. Psychological pain has been supposed to be a robust predictive variable for suicide. Aim: This study intended to explore the correlation between anger rumination, psychological pain, and suicidal ideations among patients diagnosed with major depressive disorder. Subjects and Method: A descriptive correlational research design was employed. The study subjects encompassed a purposive sample of 84 patients with major depressive disorder recruited from inpatients' departments of Port Said Psychiatric Health and Addiction Treatment Hospital. The participants were asked to fulfill predesigned three Instruments which were; Personal and Clinical Data Questionnaire, Anger Rumination Scale, and Mee-Bunney Psychological Pain Rating Scale. Results: The studied depressed patients with suicidal ideations had statistically significant higher mean scores of overall anger rumination and its sub-dimensions than those without suicidal ideations at p ≤ 0.05. Besides, the studied patients with suicidal ideations had significantly higher mean scores of psychological pain than those without suicidal ideations as p = 0.001. Conclusion: There were statistically significant positive correlations between mean scores of psychological pain and overall anger rumination and its sub-dimensions among the studied major depressive patients who had suicidal ideations at p ≤ 0.05. Recommendations: Mindfulness based-cognitive behavioral therapy may be ultimately effective in reducing anger rumination and psychological pain through challenging cognitive distortions, exchanging it with rational beliefs, effective coping resources, and execution of problem-solving skills. Consequently, help to reduce suicide risk.