Baker, the presumed author, did not write consistently throughout the 21-month period covered by the diary. Instead, entries were produced in four bursts of decreasing size (see Figure 1). These bursts were separated by months in which no entries were written. The first burst spanned January to November 1912 (11 months, 32 entries), the second January to March 1913 (3 months, 10 entries), the third June to July 1913 (2 months, 3 entries), and the final burst consisted of a single entry written in September 1913. Both the duration of the bursts (11, 3, 2, and 1 months) and the number of entries within them (32, 10, 3, and 1) decreased exponentially over time.

Figure 1.The distribution of diary entries in four bursts of decreasing size across 21 months.

This pattern might suggest a progressive decline in the author’s motivation to write. Motivation appears strongest at the beginning of the diary, when entries were frequent and sustained, and weakest at the end, when only one final entry was produced. The wave-like fluctuations between bursts further support this interpretation. If the pattern were projected forward, the next burst would be expected to contain zero entries, consistent with the cessation of writing at the time of Baker’s death. Caution is warranted when interpreting these findings, as the reasons behind writing frequency are inferred and alternative explanations exist. For instance, a decline in entries could stem from textual editing rather than diminished writing activity. Alternatively, it might reflect a shift toward a more positive mood rather than a more negative one.

Psychological research commonly associates depression with reduced motivation ([3]). Although Farokhi argues that individuals with depression may be motivated in different ways—such as toward managing internal negativity—the observable behavioral outcome often resembles demotivation. The decreasing frequency and duration of diary entries align with this interpretation, suggesting that depression and diminishing energy likely contributed to the observed decline in writing activity over time.

All words scored by the Dictionary of Affect in Language (DAL) were classified as belonging or not belonging to each of the eight extreme emotional categories described earlier (Pleasant, Cheerful, Active, Tough, Unpleasant, Sad, Passive, and Gentle; see Table 1). The frequency of these words in the diary was compared with their frequency in a normative corpus of everyday English containing more than one-third of a million words ([12]). Results are shown in Figure 2. The dotted line represents the normative value (100%), and the solid line represents the diary’s values expressed as percentages of the norm.

Figure 2. The use of eight types of emotional words (solid line) in comparison to their normative use (dotted line).

Several categories of extreme emotional words appeared more frequently in the diary than in the normative sample, including Sad, Unpleasant, and Pleasant words. Other categories, such as Passive and Gentle words, appeared less frequently. Categories marked with an asterisk in Figure 2 indicate significant differences between the diary and the normative sample (p < 0.001, two-tailed z test comparing a sample proportion to a population proportion).

The reduced use of Passive and Gentle words suggests a departure from a linguistic “comfort zone”, which is consistent with the emotionally charged nature of suicide-related writing. The elevated use of Sad and Unpleasant words aligns with previous findings showing that negative emotional language is common in suicide-related documents ([5]; [9]). The increased use of Pleasant words parallels the “paradoxical positivity” described by [6], who argue that writing about the decision to die by suicide may temporarily reduce distress and lead to the use of more positive emotional language.

Overall, the diary contains unusually high proportions of both Sad and Pleasant words, reflecting a combination of depressed emotional tone and paradoxical positivity—patterns commonly observed in suicide-related writings.

The diary contained 3310 unique words. A two-tailed z test comparing each word’s frequency in the diary to its frequency in a normative corpus of everyday English ([12]) was conducted for all individual words. Hundreds of words differed significantly from the normative sample at p < 0.05 (two-tailed). Table 2 presents the 20 most overused and 20 most underused words, ranked by absolute z value. The analysis of word frequencies was exploratory: in order to maintain control of experiment-wise alpha (3310 tests were conducted), only extreme test results significant at p < 0.000001 are discussed.

Table 2.Words used more often and less often than normal in Diary of a Suicide.

Note: The words listed in either column are illustrative: they were those with the highest absolute z values, indicating the most pronounced deviation from normal usage patterns. There were more words with significant usage effects.

The most overused words included both emotionally negative terms (e.g., despair, suicide) and emotionally positive terms (e.g., enthusiasm, passion), reflecting the simultaneous presence of Pleasant and Unpleasant emotional tones noted earlier. The word intercourse, which appears near the top of the overused list, was generally used to refer to sexual behavior. Three first-person singular pronouns—I, my, and myself—appeared at higher-than-normal rates, a pattern characteristic of both diary writing and suicide-related texts. In contrast, many second- and third-person pronouns (e.g., he, you, her), common English function words (e.g., there, when), and several forms of the verb to be (was, are, were) were used significantly less often than expected. Even the most common word in English, the, appeared at only 76% of its normative rate.

Sentence length, measured using Microsoft Word’s Grammar function, averaged 24.6 words per sentence, placing the diary on the boundary between “fairly difficult” and “difficult” readability levels ([11]). The combination of long sentences and reduced use of common function words likely contributes to the diary’s literary tone. The Dictionary of Affect includes an additional rating scale for words: the scale for Imagery. Very concrete or highly imaged words can easily be pictured or envisioned (for example, book, face, or chair). Very abstract or poorly imaged words cannot be easily pictured (for example, justice, immediate, or perfection). The normative average for this scale is 50. The diary had a low Imagery mean of 46.11, which was significantly below the normative mean (t = −15.95, two-tailed p < 0.001, d = 0.12). The language of the diary was abstract. This would add further to its complexity.

Taken together, the word-frequency patterns mirror findings from previous research: the diarist overused both emotionally positive and emotionally negative words, relied heavily on first-person singular pronouns, and avoided many common English function words. The three most overused words—philosophy, intercourse, and suicide—underscore the diary’s thematic and emotional focus. The diary included both abstract words and long sentences: these are indicators of linguistic complexity.

As noted earlier, the number of diary entries declined substantially over the 21-month period during which the diary was written. In contrast, changes in emotional tone across time were minimal. A correlation analysis using month (1 - 21) as the temporal variable and individual words as the unit of analysis revealed a small but significant increase in the use of Tough words over time (r = 0.03, p < 0.001). Three additional analyses examined temporal trends in the use of the words suicide (including suicides), intercourse, and philosophy, all of which were used at unusually high rates in the diary. Relationships were again examined at the level of months. Monthly mentions of suicide increased slightly across months (r = 0.04, p < 0.001), whereas mentions of philosophy decreased slightly (r = –0.01, p = 0.03). No temporal trend was observed for the third highly overused word, intercourse. Although statistically significant, these trends accounted for less than 1% of the variance.

Overall, the passage of time was associated with three very weak linguistic shifts: a small increase in Tough words, a slight rise in references to suicide, and a decrease in references to philosophy. These patterns are consistent with the emotional trajectory implied by the diary’s content and the author’s eventual death by suicide.