Are Aspies prone to suicide?

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From an article in the New York Times entitled: Hacker Loses Bid to Avoid Extradition:
"McKinnon's family and supporters have argued he should not be extradited because he has Asperger's syndrome, a form of autism, and could be at risk of psychosis or suicide if he is sent to the U.S."


(This is somewhat related to an article I posted some time ago about a woman who commited suicide whose family then claimed she was better off: http://www.wrongplanet.net/posts82594-highlight.html.)

Depression is frequently also a co-morbid condition. I don't know about psychosis.

People with AS have a high incidence of suicide, yes.

In fact, if a teenager commits suicide and there's no evidence of depression or another mental disorder, they recommend to assume that the individual had undiagnosed AS.

I don't know if being suicidal can be linked to AS, but one would have to figure that constant feeling of being... 'wrong' certainly wouldn't help.

Interesting...
Daniel, who is "they?"

I continually ask Daniel "who are "they" when he makes broad and sweeping statements about all Aspies (even those that have never been diagnosed) and all behavioral health care professionals, and have never gotten an answer.

good luck, riverotter.

I always provide sources if asked, sinsboldly; I sometimes may have to look them up or search for them again, as my memory is better for facts than it is for locations, but they're there. You've always gotten an answer, and you've rarely asked me, so don't lie.

I'm speaking of professionals assuming that's it's undiagnosed Asperger's. I can't recall where I read it, but I'm 100% sure I could find the paper/quote with a simple search; typing in "suicide" and "Asperger's" in Google will probably yield the page I recall the fact from.

Here you go, from eMedicine (which is the clinical source):

And don't wound me by suggesting I lie. I have asked you several times how you can quote information about ALL Aspies when ALL Aspies are not diagnosed, and you have never given me an explanation. You just continue to give vague references (like the one from eMedicine, with no link, just a 'quote' from where ever in the article it might be found) as your proof.

as you did in this case.

What you said, not giving an answer and a source, is a lie, as I always have. You've only asked twice, and I provided it both times; once with a statistic on individuals with HFA in institutions, and now this.

I don't understand the second part, as that's not pertinent to anything in this thread, other than perhaps people who commit suicide have undiagnosed Asperger's. Nor have you ever asked that before, so again, it's a lie (you can go back and check any message you so wish, I would have remembered it, unless I didn't read it, of course).

I gave you the source (easy enough to type that quoted phrase in Google); it's not vague at all. Here

Funnily enough, this isn't even the paper I got the original information from; it appears this page cites it.

That's what I just thought. Aspies feel so stupid all the time for such rational reasons, and the stress and guilt seem pretty common. I feel like alot of us are treated negitavely.

Yea, and it particularly makes sense to suspect it when the suicide was unexpected. Most people who do kill themselves talk about it a lot first (That's like the #1 "suicide myth" they always list, about people who commit suicide not talking about it, and then they say that most of them do.) So it does make sense to suspect AS if someone committed suicide and didn't mention it first. Perhaps they just didn't have much of anyone to mention it to..

But besides that, just the tendency not to be able to handle overload would also contribute to suicide.

I have a cousin who committed suicide as a teenager, and i sorta have reason to suspect he was an aspie...(for reasons other than the fact that he killed himself...but only in retrospect)....it was unsuspected, and over a relatively small issue...

Are persons with AS more prone to suicide, yes. But the same can be said for nerds and geeks too. The issue is that due to the isolation and taunting, persons with AS tend to become depressed and it is the depression that leads to suicide, not AS. In a world that would simply accept us for who we were rather than try to make us like everyone else, I would think that the suicide rates for those with AS would be lower, not due to being "less" AS but due to the fact that the conditions are less likely to lead to depression.

Now in the case of Gary McKinnion, I think the issue of suicide it the fact that he is facing a 60 year sentence in a prison in a foreign country for what amounts to be at most the crime of breaking and entering. He did nothing worse than someone entering your house that you left unlocked, looking around, leaving a note stating you should lock your door, and leaving your home. Is Gary guilty, yes. Does the crime he is guilty of deserve such a punishment, no. It is what he is facing and why that is making him depressed (and the fact that the authorities seem to want to use him as an example by being so vigiorous).

In fact, if there ever was a law and case for jury nullification, this is the one. However, the DA would not let me within 100 feet of any jury that would be trying this person.

so i've heard. because we're more susceptible to depression

RLY


When in doubt, if a teenager commits suicide and there's no evidence of depression or another mental disorder,
I recommend to assume that the individual had undiagnosed AS.

Perhaps this is what you Really intended to point out?

All based on an Individual's Assumption,

Assessed as a very doubtful Fact.

Assuring Associative Assets

I think it could be true however I am in the club of not everything is due to autism because I think it is a very narrow and disrespectful role to be I have known socialites and geeks and nerds also to kill themselves I attempted many years ago but it was due to inadequecy maybe aspergers but I never say it is a be it or end all conclusion, also like many other attemptees and people have whom unfortanely killed themselves I was bullied to and it makes me sad to see that many bright young teens an twenty somethings are killing themselves