Discussion are neurodivergent people more prone to suicide?

[immolation]

i have autism, and so does my dad (both diagnosed). i tried once to come to him about my mental health, and he said "i hate to even tell you this, but people like us (referring to the autism) are always going to struggle with this." he's never told me anything about his mental health directly, but it's clear he still struggles as well, maybe even worse than i do? even in his 50's after raising an entire child. are we just cursed to feel this way forever?? ive been thinking about it a lot recently and this has really been bothering me. i keep thinking that if i wasnt autistic i mightve never felt this way, that i mightve been able to be happy and normal.

 

[worthIess]

yes

 

[zdeweilx]

i have autism, and so does my dad (both diagnosed). i tried once to come to him about my mental health, and he said "i hate to even tell you this, but people like us (referring to the autism) are always going to struggle with this." he's never told me anything about his mental health directly, but it's clear he still struggles as well, maybe even worse than i do? even in his 50's after raising an entire child. are we just cursed to feel this way forever?? ive been thinking about it a lot recently and this has really been bothering me. i keep thinking that if i wasnt autistic i mightve never felt this way, that i mightve been able to be happy and normal.

Absolutely, that's one of the main reasons why autistic people have a lower life expectancy than normies

Life will always be a constant uphill battle for neurodivergent people, because they are the minority almost everywhere

 

[boyafraid]

I'm pretty sure I have some sort of neurodivergence. Either adhd or autism, maybe both lol. The people I can bond with easily are almost always autistic so there's that.

Dealing with mental health is hard enough as it is, I'd imagine being neurodivergent just makes it more complicated.

 

[copioushopelessness]

Yeah

 

[DarkJason]

Autism is a big reason why I'm suicidal, or rather, the social isolation and rejection that has resulted from it. It feels like pretty much no one actually gives a shit about autistic people. To them, it's just something they can use as a meme/joke, or something that they can call themselves because they think it's "quirky" or some shit. Most of those people treat real autists like absolute garbage. It sucks that ,compared to similar conditions, very few people take autism seriously and are able to acknowledge the very real problems it brings to people's lives.

 

[thelostautistic]

I can't speak for all forms of neurodivergence but I can speak about my experience being a late diagnosed autistic. Unfortunately I think it makes a lot of sense that lots of autistic people feel suicidal and end their lives. Growing up autistic can be very traumatising and lonely. We have to move through this world constantly dealing with rejection and bullying for simply being ourselves.

 

[chudcell]

i have autism, and so does my dad (both diagnosed). i tried once to come to him about my mental health, and he said "i hate to even tell you this, but people like us (referring to the autism) are always going to struggle with this." he's never told me anything about his mental health directly, but it's clear he still struggles as well, maybe even worse than i do? even in his 50's after raising an entire child. are we just cursed to feel this way forever?? ive been thinking about it a lot recently and this has really been bothering me. i keep thinking that if i wasnt autistic i mightve never felt this way, that i mightve been able to be happy and normal.

Yes i struggle with it and it fucking sucks.
Being autistic really hurts. I wish I could just be normal. I think that's part of why I've struggled with substance abuse. it's the only thing that makes me feel "normal"

 

[Unsure and Useless]

As someone who might have a case of AuDHD to some degree (can't get diagnosed due to absurd prices and wait times in addition to a lack of family support), yeah

On the ADHD-esque side of things, you can never get anything done. My life has been a series of instances of self-sabotage after another simply because I couldn't get my body to just move and do the thing I'm supposed to do. Even now, after I found a half-decent substitute for Adderall/Vyvanse/Strattera, it's already too late because whatever is wrong with me has dug me into a hole too deep to get out of, and it has also just worsened my depression. In that sense, ADHD only makes one more suicidal because it makes it infinitely more difficult to function in a society that caters to neurotypical people

Meanwhile, on the autism-like side of things, I just don't get some things, and they only serve to isolate me from the rest of society. At first, it's cute to hear someone yap passionately about the things they love, but eventually, other people get tired of hearing the same thing over and over again. And that's only if they haven't been scared off by how intensely passionate one is. Autism itself doesn't make you more suicidal; that is done by society's reaction to someone with autism

Tl;dr ADHD makes you more suicidal because it makes it difficult for you to function in society, and autism makes you more suicidal because the effects usually lead to unintentional social ostracism in my opinion

 

[ThePollinator]

Yeah. As an autistic person, I don't remember ever *not* struggling. Neurodivergency can be a sentence of unmeasurable and constant struggle and pain

 

[hitagi-crab]

Definitely. Feeling alienated from society, not being able to understand or be understood by loved ones, trauma from having behavior 'corrected' in abusive ways as a child, not to mention just pure frustration at certain kinds of sensory suffering. It can really add up.