Interesting, I have been here since 2004.....came here initially with anorexia issues & then landed immediately in the middle of a trauma with the home care person who was caring for my mother who was dying of cancer.

I got all different types of support through all the years I have been here......from the hugs & caring thoughts to the ones who helped me see other ways of looking at things & helping me with a better understanding of PTSD issues I ended up struggling with.

I believe that it's important to receive support that is not always encouraging us to see things differently than the way we have been seeing it....how else to we learn & grow?

When I struggle with the way I am dealing with a problem.....I really love getting other people's ways of thinking & help from their experiences that aren't the same way of thinking as my mind can be STUCK in.

I also appreciate the hugs & caring posts when I am grieving over a loss whether of a dear friend of one of my beloved pets who are my whole family.

Support comes in all forms.....but I believe that support even when it's not in agreement with the way I am thinking about something can & I have only experienced it being in a very supportive way also. One can provide alternative ways of looking at something in a very supportive way using diplomacy & personal experiences.

Seeing a problem that seems to need solving & then thinking through it & trying to offer one's best suggestion as to the solution is basically how I see a lot of the support here. It wouldn't make much sense to offer someone who was feeling suicidal the support to keep on with their direction of thinking....offering hugs & alternate ways of thinking & some things that can distract them through the time they are feeling that way would definitely be the appropriate support.....not telling them that what they are thinking is ok & continue thinking that way.

One has to use their wise mind to help others get into their wise mind thinking at times. I do not believe that there are hard fast rules to what one can say for support....but I do believe that everything including differing ways of thinking must be done in a very supportive way.