I'm really not sure what to make of this: my 14-year-old daughter attempted suicide last week. She has a history of seemingly-normal moodiness but for the most part she is a pretty well-adjusted kid who laughs frequently, seems to enjoy time with her friends, gets good grades, doesn't do drugs, and hasn't experienced any problems with bullying, bad relationships, etc. She has a "boyfriend" who is a nice kid and they get along fine. She has never attempted suicide or engaged in any self-harm before.

Last week she was texting her friends on a group chat and said several times, "I'm bored", and then asked, "How many mucinex would it take to od?" Then she told her friends she was dizzy and nauseous, one of the friends' moms called my wife, and she was taken to the ER. There, she told the doctor that it was a suicide attempt, and she was placed in a psychiatric facility on an emergency hold for evaluation. Since then, she has seemed upbeat and nonchalant about the whole thing, seeming to treat it as an adventure. She made a comment to my wife that her belongings were taken away "just like when you were in rehab!" (my wife is a recovering alcoholic, sober for 2 years, and the kids have gone to Alateen once a week for several years).

My wife and I are in the midst of a divorce, but it has been pretty amicable and low-drama. My daughter has said repeatedly, when asked, that she "doesn't care" that we're getting divorced, and as counter-intuitive as it seems, I tend to believe her. She is a detached child who shows mild disdain for her family and really only puts on a display of affection when she wants something. She shows a level of contempt for her older brother that goes beyond normal sibling rivalry, and it's sometimes jarring because her brother is nicer to her than most brothers are. She's not a pathological liar, but she won't hesitate to lie if she thinks she can get away with it, and she has also admitted to cheating on tests in school.

When we sat with her therapist in the psychiatric ward, the woman seemed as perplexed as we were. She asked our daughter what was causing her stress and she said "homework" and then said that she has a friend who is sometimes mean, not to her, but to her other friends. She then added that it was "everything going on in my life" but when the therapist asked her what that meant, she couldn't explain it. She seemed to be trying to come up with something that sounded plausible.

So we've got a combination of mild depression, an alcoholic parent, and a divorce, but that doesn't seem to explain the suicide attempt. There have been no obvious warning signs, and her best friend said that she's been happy and upbeat when they're with her (her friend saw no warning signs and was as shocked as we were). As much as I hate to say it, I can't get over the feeling that this "suicide attempt" was an attempt to impress her friends (she's also been telling some of them that she's bisexual, which is apparently fashionable among teens lately). Earlier in the day, she had been wondering aloud what kind of injury she'd need to sustain to get out of band practice. She doesn't show any comprehension of the devastation she has brought on her family (and on her mother in particular, who was on the verge of a breakdown). I don't expect 14-year-olds to fully understand things like this, but it's hard to believe someone could be totally oblivious to the very real emotional anguish right in front of them. I want to feel sympathetic towards her, but I can't shake the feeling that this is some kind of game to her, and my wife has the same feeling.

Has anyone experienced anything like this before? It's very confusing.