hi ga dad
i am sorry you are having to go through this. i can see why it is confusing for you. your post is contradictory in a way. you view your daughter in one light "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." so it can be difficult to see the challenges that could lead to a suicide attempt, for whatever reason she may have done it.

Being the child of an alcoholic can have devastating consequences, alateen or not. just because she is going, doesnt mean she is getting the coping skills she needs to deal with the inner turmoil or relationship issues that resulted as a resulted from her mothers problems.

"im bored" and "i dont care" indicate she lacks connection with her life. no interests or hobbies to bring her joy or happiness, to distract her when she is down. divorce is a major trauma. kids do care. it is a great loss. everything they knew is falling apart. they do have feelings about it, yet she is unable to express these feelings or unable, uncomfortable being able to share them with you. why is this?

lying and cheating- lack of moral compass? is this how you raised her? is this what was modeled in the family? how does this fit in with your introductory paragraph of her?

Not being able to explain how she feels isnt unusual. you are confused about her. you describe her kind of ideally in your first paragraph and then go on to contradict that description in further paragraphs. how much has she been taught to identify and talk about her feelings? she is probably as confused as you are about where she is at and needs help putting it into words. you are most likely right about the suicide attempt not being about dying. many times it is not. it is most often about escaping pain. people do not have the coping skills to deal with the emotional pain they are in so the idea of death is the only way out. and no, they do not think about the devastating consequences to others when they do it. they are not being selfish, they are only trying to escape the pain.

so while your daughter may seem on the outside to be well adjusted, this was a cry for help. please make sure she gets it. dont accept the "i dont cares".

welcome to Psych Central.