BASIC PRINCIPLES OF PSYCHIC SUFFERING - A PRELIMINARY ACCOUNT

The aim of the present work is to propose an analysis of psychic suffe ring and the criteria to account for its occurrence and intensity. Psy chic suffering is defined as the suffering implied by a frustrating as sumption, that is, a particular kind of discrepancy between a belief a nd a goal, embedding a time specification for both the goal and the be lief representation. Psychic suffering is distinguished from cognitive distress due to interruption, overload or malfunctioning of mental pr ocesses. General criteria for both psychic suffering and cognitive dis tress are identified and discussed, including the kind of goal accordi ng to a variety of parameters (such as terminal vs instrumental; pursu ed vs not pursued; achievement vs maintenance, etc.), as well as the c rucial role played by attention, self-awareness and expectations. Rela tions between suffering and negative emotions and the limits of the ap proach are discussed.