What would you do if an aspie threatened to commit suicide?

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Would you try to talk him out of committing suicide? Would you accuse him of being an attention seeker? Would you ignore him? Or would you respect his decision to put an end to his suffering?

What would you do? And why?

I would do whatever I could to try and have them stay, even if I didn't know the person, no matter if he or she were Aspie, NT or whatever. A life is a precious thing, and I know how painful it is to lose someone you love like that.

I would respect his decision but try everything I could to make him see that there are some really wonderful, stimulating things in life, that he doesn't have to kill himself.

I would dial 911...even if I was the one who was suicidal. Suicide attempts are life-threatening psychiatric emergencies. What if the suicidal Aspie doesn't successfully kill himself/herself? Then he/she might end up in JAIL for attempted murder, and jail is WORSE misery than our emotional problems due to AS!

My grandfather (mom's dad) killed himself in 1981, 2 years before I was born. My mom & her mom both claim that Grandpa Strait would've wanted to live again. But death is permanent, so he will NEVER live again, and same with all who successfully commit suicide.

Suicide can be a perfectly rational decision.

I'd be like...dude...permanent solution to a temporary problem. Not smart.

I find that people who threaten rarely follow through. The ones in my family who do it as a matter of course (mother and sister) just have really poor skills for handling their emotions, so they threaten suicide as a way of letting people know they don't feel they can handle the situation.

I agree with Joybob - that suicide can be a rational decision and isn't always the 'permenant solution to a temporary problem' platitude - I'm bipolar so at what point are my cyclical extreme depressions a temporary problem? They have been occuring since I was 15 and I'm now 33 - not that I'm suicidal (and haven't been for about 2 years now - which is a record for me) - but the point is this is not feeling bad over the break up of a boyfriend or something . . .

The other thing we have been discussing in my class when we talk about euthanasia is where is the line is between irrational suicide and realizing that things just aren't going to get any better and will likely continue to get worse (i.e. in the case of a terminal disease) - of course, my class has 48 people and me in it, so we have really been getting different opinions - which is great - I love learning from other people, without having to socialize with them, of course

So I checked 'other' - I think in the vast majority of cases - say 99% - suicide is a bad idea, but there are some iffy cases - just like in any other moral problem . . .

I would respect their decision but try and talk them out of it and tell someone close to them who might be able to help. Even high profile people commit suicide and it has a dramatic impact. Here is Australia young newsreader Charmaine Dragun committed suicide last night and according to close friends there was no warning signs.

Someone saying that they are going to commit suicide is attention seeking. Committing suicide is a valid personal decision.

I believe that people can be sued if they hear someone say they are going to commit suicide, do nothing, and then the person actually does. I think this is an NT way. "Everything can be solved by talking about it."

I suppose you're required to tell them something positive against that decision. Although that just give them the reason to say it again. Nice catch 22.

Myself, I'm curious as to why. I would rather deal with the real problem than to support the drama circle. If the reason is pure drama then I stay out.

If, at the end, suicide is your best choice, then you should do it. Just don't try to take others with you or leave a mess for them to clean up.

It would depend on the person and the situation.

I have never heard of anyone put in jail for attempted murder because they attempted suicide.


One thing I would never do would be taser them, hold them back, hold them down, sedate them or tie them up. That is just wrong. In some cases they want it, so I'd do it then, but otherwise, NEVER.

I just know how many times I've been so close to doing it myself, how the world can seem just so pointless and cruel and without any worthwhile merits and how I just didn't want to be here anymore... People who haven't felt the crushing power of true depression don't know what it's like and have nothing to compare it to.

Luckily my very deep preconditioning against suicide stopped me, just barely.

And now the world is a very different place, or rather my perspective is very different. Life isn't all sunshine and moonbeams and sweet smelling roses. It's something else, some mystery there, something under all the pain and hardship (and the good times too) that is slowly showing itself. There's a sense of amazement and fascination that wasn't there before.

Of course, saying any of this won't change the mind of someone who is completely committed to suicide. It wouldn't have stopped me if I'd ever decided to take that final step. I would have reacted like, "well, that's fine for you, but you obviously have a naive view of this world. You might be satisfied with the simpler ideas and explanations of things, but I see things you can't and I know things your brain must not be able to process..."

That's how I would have reacted. I'd have been wrong though. I still know all those things I did when I was depressed, but now I also see things differently. When you're depressed you think that undepressed people are only that way because they are too dumb or ignorant to know what's really going on. And while a lot of stupid people aren't depressed for that reason, a lot of people who aren't depressed are like that because they know more, not less, about the world.

By the way, I haven't "found God" or read The Secret or anything else like that. I've just been slowly chipping away at the world all these years, and now, when I stand back, I see a shape starting to form that wasn't there before.

So yes, I'd try to talk the person out of it. I'd hate to see someone go to all that trouble in their life and then fall at the last hurdle.

And that concludes my sermon for today.

How would I know that this person is an "aspie?" And why would that make any difference?

I voted for the second one. I think anyone who talks about killing them self is a thoughtless coward, and we got enough of those in the world already.
Suicide is not an answer to anything, and only drama queens and emos consider it. You are not thinking about anybody but your damn self and you are just giving up, so why should I care if someone like that lives or dies? I am a Viking, I never give up and I have no patience for cowards.
If I have to suffer through every day of my miserable life, why do you get to just give up and end it? How is that fair?