Niece suicidal

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I've just had a shock - my aspie niece tried to kill herself. She was self-harming before, she was put on Risperdal, it seems that it made her condition worse. She was diagnosed with anxiety and depression also. She's now in psychiatric unit.
Please, anybody, is there any hope for her? Will it pass? She's 16. Her father is a narcissist, a bully and a very violent person. My sister is deeply depressed too, but is still functioning. They are separated.
Anyone with experience of taking Risperdal please?

Is there hope? There can be, that's up to you and her support system. The more hope those have around her the higher the odds that she'll come out strong enough to confront her challenges. Although hope needs to combined with support and help.
If her father is toxic, and perhaps even abusive as I might read from your comment, she needs to cut off communication and she needs a strong support system to be able to do that.
I don't have any insight into the meds though.

My experience with risperidone is quite hellish. I was misdiagnosed with schizophrenia because of my shutdowns and social anxiety and given this crap... I guess it could be a salvation for someone who really was psychotic but I hate to hear about it prescribed to mitigate "problematic behaviors". It gave me a hell and I worry that more people experience the same.

My mind was all fog. My body didn't work or feel the way it should, I barely controlled it. But what was the worst, I had no power to employ any of my coping strategies. I used to be an extensively masking Aspie with enormous self control and losing it left me vulnerable and scared. Yet the medication didn't help with any of my problems - depression, social anxiety and permanent sensory overload (I didn't know any terms to describe lhe last one and for "pain but not real pain" I got only more risperidone prescribed :/ ) not only didn't get any better - they worsened.
Yet I still tried to hold my job and be a mother to my children - which was impossible - I was a vegetable - a suffering one

Getting out of the psychiatric dumphole was hard, anything I said was interpreted as my mental illness speaking. It's even harder when you're autistic and your state of good mental health is not exactly the same as being "normal". I was lucky to find a doc who really listened to me and altered the diagnosis to depression, giving me meds for it instead of antipsychotics... and a therapist who finally helped me with sorting out what I actually experienced and felt.

Don't think for a moment that it will pass. She need to be taken off that drug. I just looked it up and read that it's supposed to "help" behavioral problems with autistic people.

I just freaking love how NT society thinks our problems must be solved by drugs. After all, it's so much easier than to actually make the world around us less horrible.

Okay, I'll swallow these pills. There! Now people aren't bullying me for liking Garfield comics and screaming "Garfield's DEAD" everywhere I go!

*Swallows more pills* Yay! Now I don't have to live in a group home with ten other people, most of whom are chain smoking schizophrenics allowed to smoke indoors and around me!

*Swallows even more pills* Oh boy! Now my neighbors have stopped getting drunk and blaring loud music that pulsates through my walls at 2 in the morning, while they "dance" as if they're trying to pile-drive each other until they come right through my ceiling! And I don't have to call the cops who will do nothing, suffer a meltdown and then have to call the hospital because I have absolutely no one else to turn to, and then come and take me away while the drunken bastard and his b***h girlfriend yell "Nya nah nya nah nah!" like a couple of snot-nosed first-graders!!

At least, that's what they seem to think the pills should do instead of sickening you and making you unable to function at all, and you can't even enjoy the things you did like drawing or even watching a cartoon because you either can't stay still or get out of bed.

Anyway, people aren't kidding when they tell you as a kid not to do drugs, and yet they're so eager to shove pills down your throat to make money while the drugs make you barely able to function at all when you were actually able to before then. And when my mother tells them the hell I went through when I was put on all those drugs, they think she's being an entitled mother who thinks her daughter is an angel. But I'm not because I hate them all.

I worked on a crisis hotline many years ago. I found suicides fell into two general categories event driven and integrated. The event type suicides suffer intense pain (death of a child, divorce, etc.) However, once the initial pain of the event is gotten past, circumstances become somewhat more manageable.

It sound like your niece may have to deal with an integrated situation. For many dealing with depression, suicide ideation can become integrated into their thinking as a growing solution to a life that seems increasingly hopeless.

There may be several attempts before succeeding. I would be very skeptical of a chemical "solution" or treatment. You described a toxic home life and for a young person who has not had the life experiences to put things in perspective, it can seem as if there will never be any solution. This can make things even more risky.

If you have access to your niece, you may want to assure her that you understand her difficult situation and are available to offer her encouragement and hope to get past her present difficulties. You may be able to describe for her a life she can have away from her home such that making it to that independence becomes a source of hope.

If she has a religious faith, you may be able to work within that framework to also tap into hope.

Some young girls escape unpleasant environments through immersion in works of fiction such as fantasy novels. However, some of these can be rather dark and should be avoided. Whatever coping mechanisms she can use should be encouraged as the influence of her father will not last forever.

Once she is outside of the toxic environment, she can begin to repair the damage done both in exposure to negative developmental influences and the lack of positive ones.

You should be encouraged in the kindness and concern you have for her as it does not sound like she has much else that is positive in which she can see reason for hope.

yes. that sounds like good advice.
Your support as her aunt will for sure be worthwhile.
Having a friendly and familiar face often helps and makes you realise that someone cares.
Important.

At least you managed to get her to hospital.
As she should at least have someone who keeps an eye on her.

Oh, yes, I forgot to mention being unable to do anything I would enjoy.

NatCam, I searched your old posts to find out about your niece and found this: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=370325&p=8071673#p8071673


and then (in the current thread)


This paints a picture of a family dominated by unhealthy relationships, lots of bullying. No wonder she's suicidal, she can't escape them any other way.

No risperidone. Therapy. Family therapy. Therapy for her mother so she's not "deeply depressed but functioning". Your niece needs a healthy adult to turn to, not just "functioning" one.

Of course there's hope for your niece----especially if she has an understanding aunt.

I've just tapered off Risperidone. I took it to control or subdue harmful stims, but I was never suicidal before, during or after the medicine. I hope your niece continues to receive psychiatric help. She may always deal with depression, but suicidal thoughts can often be helped by trained professionals. Have faith that she is in good hands, and perhaps this is a turning point for her to feel supported. Definitely get her off the Risperdal if you can, though!

Warning: suicide mentioned

Case studies: I was suicidal in late teens until late 20s, as well as a cousin (now deceased).
* My parents were fairly open about it (not directly supportive, but encouraged me to get outside help) and I had a distant family member come to support me (she did it weirdly, but nonetheless), and I found a caring partner, a functioning vehicle and a job with good lighting - I did not make a "serious" attempt. I had three instances where medication new or withdrawal made me super suicidal (institutionalized the first time, knew better the other two times to weather it myself.)
* My cousin's family hid their mental health challenges, her boyfriend introduced her to drugs, her car broke down and she hated that her office had no windows (and her parents criticized her concern) - her extended family did not know she had made a suicide attempt previously, (if we had we would have taken signs -like increased drinking and self-depreciating apologies- more seriously), so were completely unprepared when her second attempt succeeded. Ironically her "success" drove me to a psychiatrist to get long-term help for myself.

For women in particular, there's a need to EXTERNALIZE the feelings. My abusive parent would not let me be angry at her and I would turn it on myself. A psychiatrist showed me early on: he made me angry and LET ME be angry at him - and I was not suicidal.

Kudos to your family for being open about it. Wishing your niece the support and circumstances to weather this awful storm.

In most respects I'll defer to others' solidly grounded advice.

One thing though. I've had a few rough times, and it often felt like I needed a chance to hit reset on it all.

By that I mean getting away from everything and everyone that gives me grief, and just spend some time around nature.

People in your niece's extended family, such as yourself, may be in a position to facilitate that from time to time.

This is not meant to diminish the vital importance of correct psychiatric and psychological help.