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Does thinking about death all the time mean that you’re depressed? If you’ve been diagnosed with a mood disorder like major depression, bipolar disorder, or another mental health disorder, you may be preoccupied with thoughts of death.

This might include symptoms such as passively wishing you were dead, actively beginning to plan your death, or becoming absorbed in thoughts of dying.

Preoccupation with death can be a symptom of depression and other mental illnesses. Here’s why having a mental health condition can make you have these feelings and what you can do to address them.

What Might Cause Thoughts of Death?

If you are always thinking about death, it is normal to wonder if you might be depressed. Depression is one cause, but other factors might cause you to think about death often.

Depression

Thinking about death or wishing you were dead can be a symptom of depression. If you are also experiencing other symptoms, it is essential to talk to a doctor.

Bipolar Disorder

Bipolar depression is similar to major depression. The main difference is that if you have bipolar disorder and are experiencing a depressive episode, you may be more likely than a person with unipolar depression to have “mixed” symptoms. A mixed episode of bipolar disorder can include agitation (both mental and physical), irritability, anger, and anxiety.

Single symptoms are rarely present; rather, there are different groups of symptoms that are common. Groupings of symptoms may include changes in activity levels, physical changes, emotional pain, difficult moods, and changes in thought patterns.

Intrusive or Obsessive Thoughts

If you constantly have obsessive, intrusive thoughts about death or dying, it might be a sign of a condition such as obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

OCD involves experiencing obsessions and/or compulsions that interfere with your daily life or cause distress. Some people engage in behaviors (compulsions), but the condition can also involve thoughts, such as those centered on death, without compulsions.

Research has found that having OCD significantly increases a person’s risk of experiencing suicidal ideation.

PTSD is a condition that can occur after a person has experienced a traumatic event. In addition to flashbacks, anxiety, and nightmares, people also experience intrusive thoughts. Research has found that PTSD is a risk factor for suicide.

Grief

Losing a loved one can also cause people to experience a preoccupation with death. You might think of death often or even find yourself wishing for your own death. Grief is a natural response to loss, but it can also lead to prolonged problems if it turns into what is known as complicated grief.

This condition affects around 7% of bereaved people and can lead to intrusive thoughts of death or suicidal thinking.

Types of Suicidal Ideation

Having suicidal thoughts, also referred to as suicidal ideation, is a hallmark symptom of major depression and depressive episodes in bipolar disorder. Suicidal ideation can be passive (thinking about death often but not acting on these thoughts) or active (making plans to act on suicidal thoughts).

Passive Suicidal Ideation

Passive suicidal ideation involves thinking about death to a marked degree. These thoughts may take the form of imagining yourself dead or wishing you were dead. While passive suicidal ideation may be frequent, intense, and intrusive, you are not taking action or planning to harm yourself in response to these thoughts.

You may have these thoughts without feeling the urge to act on them. For example, your family, work responsibilities, or your religious/philosophical beliefs may deter you from making suicide plans.

“I wish I was dead” is a common phrase many people utter without meaning, such as when expressing embarrassment or exasperation in a joking manner. However, someone who is depressed may use these words to convey that they are not coping well—and this is no joke.

Active Suicidal Ideation

With active suicidal ideation, “I wish I were dead” progresses to thoughts or plans for following through on those feelings. The progression from thinking to planning can be spurred on by a number of factors, such as stressful life events or the flux of your mental illness symptoms.

Suicidal thoughts are most often caused by the culmination of these factors, which leaves you feeling trapped, overwhelmed, and out of control. You may feel guilty and as though you are a burden to others. You may be hopeless and convinced that your life will never get better.

A person’s thoughts usually have elements of both passive and active suicidal ideation—often with no clear separation. Being aware of where you are on the spectrum between passive and active can give you insight into how well you cope with and manage your mental health.

Whether or not you have made a suicide plan, the thoughts associated with active suicidal ideation must be taken seriously. Research shows that decision-making processes are altered when someone attempts suicide.

Managing Suicidal Thoughts

If you or someone you care about is having suicidal thoughts, it’s very important that you seek help. Whether it’s a trusted family member, friend, doctor, or mental health professional, these feelings do not have to be (and shouldn’t have to be) faced alone.

Depression, bipolar disorder, and other mental illnesses can be treated. If you are trying to cope with mental illness know that there are resources, such as online and in-person support groups, that may be able to help. If you are helping a loved one who is dealing with mental illness, there are also support groups for caregivers that can offer resources.

Where to Reach Out

If you are having persistent thoughts about death and dying, reach out to someone in your life who is trustworthy and compassionate. If you don’t have someone in your family or group of friends that you can talk to, look to others in your community, such as clergy, counselors, and health care providers.

You can also reach out to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 or visit the website to use the online chat feature any time day or night. These resources are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

You may be hesitant to talk about suicide openly, as the topic is sometimes considered taboo and a pervasive stigma is attached to mental illness. However, if someone you love is depressed and you are concerned they are suicidal, it’s vital that you ask them directly if they are thinking about harming themselves.

If your loved one admits they are feeling suicidal, having thoughts about death, or making plans based on those thoughts, the first thing you need to do is make sure they are safe. From there, you can reach out to the appropriate resources for help.

Avoiding Impulsivity

If you are having thoughts of suicide or feeling that you wish you were dead, avoid making any impulsive decisions or taking drastic actions. While the feelings you are having may be intense and distressing, try to remember that they will pass.

When you are depressed it can be difficult to recognize that you have an impact on others. The ripple effect of your actions is felt throughout your personal and professional life, your school, and your community. It may not seem or feel like it, but there are people in your life who care about you.

If you reach out to them, chances are they will be more than willing to support you. Even if the people in your life aren’t sure how to help, they can be present with you as you work to identify the resources, support, and treatment that you need.

Help is Available

If you have thoughts of death and dying but have no immediate plans to harm yourself, call your doctor or therapist as soon as possible. These feelings and thoughts may indicate that you have a mental health disorder that hasn’t been diagnosed yet.

If you have already been diagnosed with a mental health condition, feeling suicidal can indicate you need to adjust your treatment. You may need to change or increase your medication, begin psychotherapy, or pursue inpatient/outpatient mental health treatment.

While there have been a number of cases of feral children raised in social isolation with little or no human contact, few have captured public and scientific attention like the Genie Wiley story.

Genie spent almost her entire childhood locked in a bedroom, isolated, and abused for over a decade. Her case was one of the first to put the critical period theory to the test. Could a child reared in utter deprivation and isolation develop language? Could a nurturing environment make up for a horrifying past?

Despite years of intervention, Genie never acquired language. She was eventually placed in state care, where she has remained ever since.

Who Was Genie Wiley and What Happened to Her?

To understand the Genie Wiley story, it is important to look at what is known about her early life, the discovery of the abuse she had endured, and the subsequent efforts to treat and study her.

Early Life (1957-1970)

Genie’s life before her discovery was one of utter deprivation. She spent most of her days tied naked to a potty chair, only able to move her hands and feet. When she made a noise, her father would beat her. The rare times her father interacted with her, it was to bark or growl. Genie Wiley’s brother, who was five years older than Genie, also experienced abuse at the hands of their father.

Discovery and Study (1970-1975)

Genie’s story came to light on November 4, 1970, in Los Angeles, California. A social worker discovered the 13-year old girl after her mother sought out services for her own health. The social worker soon discovered that the girl had been confined to a small room, and an investigation by authorities quickly revealed that the child had spent most of her life in this room, often tied to a potty chair.

A Genie Wiley documentary was made in 1997 called “Secrets of the Wild Child.” In it, Susan Curtiss, PhD, a linguist and researcher who worked with Genie, explained that the name Genie was used in case files to protect the girl’s identity and privacy.

Both parents were charged with abuse, but Genie’s father died by suicide the day before he was due to appear in court, leaving behind a note stating that “the world will never understand.”

The story of Genie’s case soon spread, drawing attention from both the public and the scientific community. The case was important, said psycholinguist and author Harlan Lane, PhD, because “our morality doesn’t allow us to conduct deprivation experiments with human beings; these unfortunate people are all we have to go on.”

With so much interest in her case, the question became what should be done to help her. A team of psychologists and language experts began the process of rehabilitating Genie.

The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) provided funding for scientific research on Genie’s case. Psychologist David Rigler, PhD, was part of the “Genie team” and he explained the process.

Genie’s rehabilitation team also included graduate student Susan Curtiss and psychologist James Kent. Upon her initial arrival at UCLA, Genie weighed just 59 pounds and moved with a strange “bunny walk.” She often spat and was unable to straighten her arms and legs. Silent, incontinent, and unable to chew, she initially seemed only able to recognize her own name and the word “sorry.”

Genie Wiley’s Rehabilitation and the Forbidden Experiment

She soon began to progress rapidly in specific areas, quickly learning how to use the toilet and dress herself. Over the next few months, she began to experience more developmental progress but remained poor in areas such as language. She enjoyed going out on day trips outside of the hospital and explored her new environment with an intensity that amazed her caregivers and strangers alike.

Curtiss suggested that Genie had a strong ability to communicate nonverbally, often receiving gifts from total strangers who seemed to understand the young girl’s powerful need to explore the world around her.

After an outbreak of measles, Genie was quarantined at her teacher’s home. Butler soon became protective and began restricting access to Genie. Other members of the team felt that Butler’s goal was to become famous from the case, at one point claiming that Butler had called herself the next Anne Sullivan, the teacher famous for helping Helen Keller learn to communicate.  

Genie was partially treated like an asset and an opportunity for recognition, significantly interfering with their roles, and the researchers fought with each other for access to their perceived power source.

Eventually, Genie was removed from Butler’s care and went to live in the home of psychologist David Rigler, where she remained for the next four years. Despite some difficulties, she appeared to do well in the Rigler household. She enjoyed listening to classical music on the piano and loved to draw, often finding it easier to communicate through drawing than through other methods.

State Custody (1975-Present)

NIMH withdrew funding in 1974 due to the lack of scientific findings. Linguist Susan Curtiss had found that while Genie could use words, she could not produce grammar. She could not arrange these words in a meaningful way, supporting the idea of a critical period in language development.

Rigler’s research was disorganized and largely anecdotal. Without funds to continue the research and care for Genie, she was moved from the Riglers’ care.

In 1975, Genie returned to live with her birth mother. When her mother found the task too difficult, Genie was moved through a series of foster homes, where she was often subjected to further abuse and neglect.

Genie’s birth mother then sued the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles and the research team, charging them with excessive testing. While the lawsuit was eventually settled, it raised important questions about the treatment and care of Genie. Did the research interfere with the girl’s therapeutic treatment?

Psychiatrist Jay Shurley visited her on her 27th and 29th birthdays and characterized her as largely silent, depressed, and chronically institutionalized. Little is known about Genie’s present condition, although an anonymous individual hired a private investigator to track her down in 2000 and described her as happy. But this contrasts with other reports.

Why Was the Genie Wiley Case So Famous?

Part of the reason why Genie’s case fascinated psychologists and linguists so deeply was that it presented a unique opportunity to study a hotly contested debate about language development.

Essentially, it boils down to the age-old nature versus nurture debate. Does genetics or environment play a greater role in the development of language?

Nativism

Nativists believe that the capacity for language is innate, while empiricists suggest that environmental variables play a key role. Nativist Noam Chomsky suggested that acquiring language could not be fully explained by learning alone.

Instead, Chomsky proposed that children are born with a language acquisition device (LAD), an innate ability to understand the principles of language. Once exposed to language, the LAD allows children to learn the language at a remarkable pace.

Critical Periods

Linguist Eric Lenneberg suggests that, like many other human behaviors, the ability to acquire language is subject to critical periods. A critical period is a limited span of time during which an organism is sensitive to external stimuli and capable of acquiring certain skills.

According to Lenneberg, the critical period for language acquisition lasts until around age 12. He argued that after the onset of puberty, the brain’s organization becomes set and no longer able to learn and use language in a fully functional manner.

Genie’s case presented researchers with a unique opportunity. If given an enriched learning environment, could she overcome her deprived childhood and learn a language despite missing the critical period?

Despite scoring at the level of a 1-year-old upon her initial assessment, Genie quickly began adding new words to her vocabulary. She started by learning single words and eventually began putting two words together much the way young children do. Curtiss began to feel that Genie would be fully capable of acquiring language.

Did Genie Learn to Speak?

After a year of treatment, Genie started putting three words together occasionally. In children going through normal language development, this stage is followed by what is known as a language explosion. Children rapidly acquire new words and begin putting them together in novel ways.

Unfortunately, this never happened for Genie. Her language abilities remained stuck at this stage, and she appeared unable to apply grammatical rules and use language in a meaningful way. At this point, her progress leveled off, and her acquisition of new language halted.

Of course, Genie’s case is not so simple. Not only did she miss the critical period for learning language, but she was also horrifically abused. She was malnourished and deprived of cognitive stimulation for most of her childhood.

Researchers were also never able to fully determine if Genie had any pre-existing cognitive deficits. As an infant, a pediatrician had identified her as having some type of mental delay. So researchers were left to wonder whether Genie had experienced cognitive deficits caused by her years of abuse or if she had been born with some degree of intellectual disability.

Ethical Questions About the Genie Wiley Story

There are many ethical concerns surrounding Genie’s story. Arguments among those in charge of Genie’s care and rehabilitation reflect some of these concerns.

“If you want to do rigorous science, then Genie’s interests are going to come second some of the time. If you only care about helping Genie, then you wouldn’t do a lot of the scientific research,” suggested psycholinguist Harlan Lane in the NOVA documentary focused on her life.

In Genie’s case, some of the researchers held multiple roles of caretaker-teacher-researcher-housemate. which, by modern standards, we would deem unethical. For example, the Riglers benefited financially by taking Genie in (David received a large grant and was released from certain duties at the children’s hospital without loss of pay). Butler also played a role in removing Genie from the Riglers’ home, filing multiple complaints against him.

“I think future generations are going to study Genie’s case not only for what it can teach us about human development but also for what it can teach us about the rewards and the risks of conducting ‘the forbidden experiment,'” Lane explained.

Genie Wiley’s story perhaps leaves us with more questions than answers. Though it was difficult for Genie to learn language, she was able to communicate through body language, music, and art once she was in a safe home environment. Unfortunately, we don’t know what her progress could have been had adequate care not been taken away from her.

Ultimately, her case is so important for the psychology and research field because we must learn from this experience not to revictimize and exploit the very people we set out to help. This is an important lesson because Genie’s original abuse by her parents was perpetuated by the neglect and abandonment she faced later in her life. We must always strive to maintain objectivity and consider the best interest of the subject before our own.