LMo I'm glad you have such a good perspective on this. It is difficult. I was on "the other side of the fence" for many years but never imagined how deep this is until I began suffering myself.

>>that I have to walk on eggshells unless I want to deal with getting publicly flamed when they misunderstand something because they are feeling hypersensitive and are irritable

There are so many aspects of depression that are "ironic" in the sense that they work directly against recovery. I know that a lot of the anger and paranioa that I feel now is a part of the depression. It is unfortunate that those aspects sometimes impose themselves here, and sometimes even in "live" support groups. In group therapy sessions the therapist usually quickly "diffuses" things like that by making both sides realize what is at the heart of there comments and validating them. In support groups it is up to the members to try to be careful not to offend and not to be offended. Sometimes that is difficult. I am glad that you do get (or so it seems) some benefit from places like this. And the fact that you have found support groups for family members is a big plus, hopefully you can "safely" vent some of those frustrations there. I do think it is good for us to know about them though as a reminder that many times the way we feel and the "mask" we show to the world doesn't match at all even though we may not realize it. I spent a long period of time angry at friends who wouldn't "get" that I was having a problem, while at the same time working very hard and very effectively at hiding all signs of the problem.

P.S. thank you for the compliment on my paper. hope others also find it useful

-- The world is what we make of it --
-- Dave
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