"classify 379 subjects recruited from two academic medical centers and a rural community hospital"
So they recruit people from hospitals and check if they ever thought about suicide/self death? Hmm okay nice test group....
Everybody, healthy or not healthy, in life will think about how it would be or how they would end themselves, it's human nature. Though people in hospitals, potentially sick, generally older, for sure will have had those thoughts, because they often had issues that makes them lets say less enthusiastic about life?
I don't know, i'm no expert, and certainly not a judge of what is normal and what is not. I do know that 'normal' isn't the same for everybody.
But if you get a serious event in life (example, death of family member or other loved one), that makes you doubt if you still enjoy life or whats the use of 'finishing' it till your body gives up.. those thoughts will occur, sometimes swiftly sometimes occupying your brain for longer. Do keep in mind, having thoughts and actually acting upon those thoughts are two different things.
Though pondering if tom sawyer has brass handles on his coffin.... Maybe if i was reading tom sawyer, yes that would probably be a thought that came before others. :) Have to admit, i never read that book, so not entirely sure why one would fantasise about his funeral.
I guess that people doing research into suicidal ideation know that it comes in different forms - from well defined plans with means and method available, to abstract thoughts of "things would be better if I wasn't here", and that they will have taken different forms if ideation into account when preparing the research.
So they recruit people from hospitals and check if they ever thought about suicide/self death? Hmm okay nice test group....
Everybody, healthy or not healthy, in life will think about how it would be or how they would end themselves, it's human nature. Though people in hospitals, potentially sick, generally older, for sure will have had those thoughts, because they often had issues that makes them lets say less enthusiastic about life?