Are aspies more prone to commit sucide?
Throughout my life, I have had numerous time intervals where I just wanted to end it all.
Any other aspies experience this?
Yes. I even ended up hospitalized almost.
What do they do if the person never re-covers?
Throughout my life, I have had numerous time intervals where I just wanted to end it all.
Any other aspies experience this?
Yes. I even ended up hospitalized almost.
What do they do if the person never re-covers?
I have no idea.
Depends on the kind of depression, really.
Major depression tends to be episodic. In almost all cases, it resolves on its own without intervention. So the cases of treatment-resistant depression are generally quite rare, though it can happen. If it is treatment-resistant, depending on the severity there are some options. People with treatment-resistant major depression will be in counseling long-term by default, if the doctor has any brains, and may be able to improve their own symptoms by learning techniques taught in CBT. Usually, first they try different medications, going from SSRIs to older and rarer ones, to try to figure out something that will work. If nothing there works, then there's the option of inducing seizures with ECT, which is generally last-ditch but does work in many cases. You get the usual issues you get with any seizure, except for the physical injuries because you're under general anesthesia during treatments. It's never tried until other things have been tried, of course.
Dysthymia is different. It's long-term, low-level depression, which usually allows the person to remain mostly functional. Many people with dysthymia that's resistant to the meds they will almost certainly try first will respond to older medications. Others don't respond to medication but can benefit from lifestyle changes that support general mental health, such as getting more sunlight, exercise, and a support network. Dysthymia can also respond to counseling, and frequent check-ins and education to teach them to manage their depression are generally the goal of that.
In general: Depression usually resolves eventually. Even when it doesn't, we have a lot of ways to reduce its severity. It's a very common problem, and thus has been widely studied. We're getting better at learning about it as time goes on, especially with the new brain-imaging techniques.
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Reports from a Resident Alien:
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Yes, there is a strong association with depression and with suicide and self-harm. Asperger's can mean a life filled with rejection, or the perception of rejection, especially amongst undiagnosed people, and those negative feelings must increase into adulthood.
This fact sheet is okay: http://www.autism-help.org/family-suici ... autism.htm
I think doing threads about suicide is against the rules. because my thread on
but to answer your question I have to say it really depends on the person. a person with aspergers can commit suicide but I don't think it is autism relative.
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i have change for the better.
Nothing else to add here really; the evidence seems pretty conclusive. It's no wonder that people with AS are prone to depression - a history of rejection can easily lead to feelings of uselessness and worthlessness, which then becomes a vicious circle of negative thoughts, more bad experiences and poor decisions. It sucks, but I suspect that once a person with AS is depressed, it would be really hard to get out of it because we tend to obsess over our thoughts...and if our thoughts are all negative, what else is there to think about?
Unfortunately I think that thread was a bit insensitive, even though you didn't mean it to be insensitive, some people who have had to deal with the suicide of a family member or friend might (understandably) have been upset.
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"Never try to teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time and annoys the pig."
At least from personal experience, I'd say it's pretty true. If someone has depression, loneliness usually never helps.
I tried to kill myself when I was 14. I was having a really bad year at school, my grades were straight "F"s and I was being bullied on a daily basis and none of the teachers or my parents would lend me an ear for my problems.
After that I had a major depressive in 2002 which was brought on by events at work at the time that were more than I could handle and I was on the verge again, but I was taking a year off college at the time and going back for the spring semester brought me out of my funk.
Then I found out I had aspergers which coincided perfectly with me having to change schools and being on my own for the first time. That was 2004 and I joined the forums here - this site was only a few weeks old (aspergia had just shut down) and through here I met another board member who was going to same school I was and she was a great help for me - along with a great counseling staff, I managed to get through that first year with out any major episodes of depression, just a few really bad days here and there.
But now I'm gone from that support and I've been slipping backwards again. I've never really felt as if my life had some kind of purpose and I've never felt appreciated by my current employer.
We are a vulnerable group and if things keep the way they are with the economy, I only foresee it getting worse for us since we tend to be the first ones kicked to the side and the last to be picked back up.
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I live my life to prove wrong those who said I couldn't make it in life...
trojan51
Deinonychus
Joined: 10 Dec 2009
Age: 32
Gender: Male
Posts: 361
Location: Seattle, Washington, United States
I have to constantly watch every little thing I put into my body in terms of drugs. Stuff just doesn't react the same in me. Something like Claritin (24hr allergy pill) will cause me to go into a severe depression for exactly 24 hours. Its so bad that I pretty much have to stay in bed all the time.
On the other hand, I have found that ordinary caffeine helps a great deal with my depression. I have to mix just the right amount. Too much and the caffeine makes me highly prone to meltdowns. On me, it works very well to control my depression.
I tried Paxil, but all it did was cause me to have weird dreams and get in trouble at work. So I stopped taking it.
I've also found that getting accidentally shocked by my electric fence charger will also relieve my depression. The only problem is that when I get that bad, I don't have the strength to go out there and zap myself.
As far as suicide, there are different stages. Thinking about it, figuring a way to do it, and actually trying to do it. I've gotten to the figuring stage, but not the actually doing it stage. Right now, I'm not too messed up, but if my situation changes for the worse, who knows.
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