ideation

Reader's Digest 8月号の記事 Creature comfort は子供のできない米国の夫婦がロシアの二人の子供を養子にしましたが、その内の一人が先天的な病気があり夫婦は悩んでいる話です。
Iyal was intellectually impaired and at high risk for a range of secondary disabilities, including poor judgement, impulsive behaviour, social isolation, limited academic achievement, unemployment, drug and alcohol abuse, imprisonment, suicidal ideation, the inability to live independently and inappropriate sexual behaviour.
"ideation" は初めて見る単語ですが何でしょう？　"idea" と関係がありそうですが。
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary: the capacity for or the act of forming or entertaining ideas: caregivers are trained to watch for signs of depression and suicidal ideation--some patients are likely to put their fantasies to action
・Wiktionary:
1.The conceptualization of a mental image.: Natural language is fuzzy mostly because human ideation is fuzzy.
2.(often business) The synthesis of ideas.
・Vocabulary.com:
Ideation is the act of coming up with an idea, like when a cartoon light bulb appears above someone’s head. If you imagine a flying car and think of how to make it, that's ideation. It's a creative process.
Ideation might sound new, but the word has been around since the 1800's. It looks like a blend of idea and creation, and it is -- a brainstorming session is a type of ideation. In medical speak, ideation is "the forming of mental images." In this sense the word is often paired with suicidal -- suicidal ideation refers to someone thinking about killing herself. Sadly, that’s the most common use of ideation.
最後に引用したVocabulary.comの説明は丁寧で分かり易いですね。"suicidal ideation" が最も一般的に見掛ける表現だと言う事もわかりました。蛇足ですが、動詞形は "ideate" です。
さて、記事の子供の病症を軽減したのは介助犬でした。　それで記事の題名が Creature comfort なのです。