Daydreaming about death: violent daydreaming as a form of emotion dysregulation in suicidality.

Fullana et al. (2007) asked college students to fill out three short surveys. One asked how often they daydream about death or violence. The other two measured depression and suicide thoughts.

The team then looked at who scored high on all three. They wanted to see if violent daydreaming plus depression predicts more suicide ideation than depression alone.

Students who both daydreamed vividly about death and had high depression reported the strongest suicide thoughts. Either risk alone was lower.

In plain words, violent daydreaming acted like a booster. It turned depression into a stronger warning sign.

Huang et al. (2014) extends the same idea to younger kids. They showed family quarrels also raise suicide thoughts in elementary students, especially when the child is already depressed. Risk factors change with age, but depression keeps amplifying them.

Davies et al. (2014) sound like they disagree. Their review says self-injury and aggression do NOT reliably signal depression in people with intellectual disability. The key difference is method: Ellen looked at outward behaviors in ID, while A et al. looked at private thoughts in college students. Both can be true; the marker depends on the population.

Okuno et al. (2022) used a similar survey style with adolescents. They found safety behaviors plus social anxiety predict social problems. Pattern match: one internal habit teams up with one clinical trait to create bigger trouble.

If you screen teens or adults for suicide risk, add one quick question: "Do you find yourself daydreaming about death or violence?" When the answer is yes AND the person shows signs of depression, move to safety planning and refer for mental-health support. No extra tools needed—just one item on your intake form can sharpen your risk radar.