Aspie Teens more suicide prone?

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Think your suicidal? Imagine having AS and taking 60mg of Straterra. Definitely counterbalanced with an anti-depressant but it had still hurt. I now take 40mg and it isn't as bad.

If you don't even START drinking (alcohol is a pretty severe depressant) you'll be less suicide-prone!

I know that deep down tiredness well. Hope you feel a little sunnier soon vessal. I used to get the winter blues really badly and needed to sleep excessively when I lived in the northern hemisphere. Now I live the South Pacific winter doesn't affect me at all. I think if I had stayed I would have got a light box to cope with it, and the occasional winter sunbed used to help.

I do sometimes think about killing myself when i feel really bad but that hasnt happend for a while now. I usually feel happy with my life.

I would never really kill myself though. for One, i actualy think it is a selfish thing to do as i know people do care. My family would be upset,my friends and peers would be upset and my teachers would too. whenever i think about it i hang onto those thoughts.

Also i am actually quite scared of dying. Nobody for sure no what happens. So i am scared. I have my whole life to lead. I am only 16. dying now would be a terrible tragedy when i have many years left.

much love
xx

I get thought about feeling worthless but there is a half truth. The other half is hope and destiny.

If I didn't see hope and destiny, then I wouldn't be here posting on forum or would I?

Drinking alcohol sadly is not a good depressant and it can kill brain cells (make you less smarter). You find yourself in a street panhandling for money because you can't stop drinking.

I've looked for statistics and research about the relationship between suicide and AS, but haven't found anything. From what I know, however, I'm sure there indeed is a relationship. Life sucks more for aspies than it does for others. It's a lot harder. Therefore, more of them kill themselves. Again, I've not seen the data, but that's my suspicion.

I have looked online for studies, and have found very little. My son was diagnosed with dysthymia (low-grade depression) when he was 16, and diagnosed with high-functioning autism when he was 17. He was treated for the depression off and on for a few years, but often didn't take medicine - he didn't like pills. Drew was extremely bright, scored very well on standardized tests, was living in an apartment and working while attending college. However, he was bullied since he was very young, had a speech and language delay when he was a toddler, and had started having trouble relating to his peers in mid- to later elementary school years. He finally found a girlfriend, but after they broke up earlier this year, he died by suicide.

I do know that people on the autism spectrum have a higher incidence of depression than the general population, and I now know that people with suicide have a very, very high percentage of previously being diagnosed with depression. Although there is no study that we know of that links autism with suicide, it seems safe to say that there is a relationship.

I hope you all will watch for symptoms, such as sleep disorders, headaches, lack of enjoyment, changes in relationships, striking changes in mood, lack of appetite, and any others that may set off an alarm. Please ask for help from someone you trust. We need all of you in our world. We each have an important part to play in each other's lives. Drew's loss has devastated so many people. He had many friends who cared about him. So what if they were often several or more years older than his peers? He was a quirkly, difficult, thoughtful, brilliant person. We miss him terribly. We now have some idea of how much pain he was in from the depression, for many years. Please do not put your families and friends through this. Help them help you!

I have heard that, yes. More prone to anxiety and depression, also, especially in the adolescent years.

Yes, when you are different the teen years and school can be very challenging and I know their were a few years I wanted to give up realizing I would my life would always get worse and never better. Indeed aspies/auties I have read do have a increased chance of suicide then NT peers on average.

That being said... I am so glad I did not give into the urges in 10-11th grade, because life has only improved since those dark years. I hope the same is true for everyone else, teen years and early adult hood can be the greatest challenge.

Thank you for sharing your story Drewsmom. I'm so sorry for your loss and I hope that teens who read this will realise that there is always someone who cares, however alone you feel at the time.

It was thinking of people who cared about me that brought me back from the brink at 16. I never feel alone now I have the internet, and my aspie whanau at Wrong Planet. Whanau is a Maori term for friends & extended family, and I'm so grateful that I have so many wonderful people in my life over 16 years later.

i am diagnosed as having repetitive depressive disorder and regularly have suicidal thoughts. I am on long term depression and psychosis medication - cymbalta (duluxoine) and rispiridone. I have also been a self harmer for 9 of my 19 years.