<blockquote>
Have you checked out the parents board at schizophrenia.com ?
I went. I saw. I was appalled by the behavior of the moderators. To be more specific, their behavior was disturbingly cult-like.
</font><blockquote><div id="quote"><font class="small">Quote:</font>
To heighten our awareness, Them and Us identifies four basic cult behaviors that influence our thinking:
1) compliance with a group,
2) dependence on a leader,
3) avoiding dissent, and
4) devaluing the outsider.
These forces operate in all aspects of society. The core process is devaluing the outsider, resulting in Them-versus-Us behavior.
Source: Them & Us
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A few examples...
One of my first comments was in reply to a news story about a woman who had found a recovery treatment program that was working very well for her. I noted that it was interesting that she had a history of trauma in her past, given the link between trauma and schizophrenia. I was directed by a moderator to read a specific link rebutting the trauma-schizophrenia link. I read it and noted that I hadn't been swayed (one professor up against 40 studies doesn't say much). I was then chastised by the moderator:
your comment reveals that you don't actually read or understand ... I hope you can put more effort into understanding what we have on the site here.
Another moderator then suggested that I take a "little quiz" to see just how much I knew about schizophrenia. I scored 10 out of 10 but pointed out some of the expected answers were wrong. For example, question 1 asked quiz takers to determine what is required to make a diagnosis of schizophrenia. The correct answer is the presence of positive or negative symptoms over a minimum course of six months, but the quiz answer omits any mention of negative symptoms, thereby implying that a person must be in an actively psychotic state for six months straight!
To make matters worse, the quiz author's bio includes this statement:
One Friday night, she became paranoid and had racing thoughts, and exhibited odd behavior all night, unable to sleep. The next morning, her mother drove Christina to the ER, where she was diagnosed with schizophrenia and placed on the psych ward.
Who, in god's name, makes a diagnosis of schizophrenia as based on 24 hours of symptoms and why does schizophrenia.com present that kind of information as the be-all and end-all of knowledge?
So... that was my introduction to the place.
Then I made a book recommendation. That post was deleted. I thought that maybe I had made the error and posted it again. The moderator posted a lengthy rebuttal from E. Fuller Torrey in response. I noted that I wasn't too crazy about Torrey, especially his inclination to tar all individuals with the same brush in regard to violence and schizophrenia via the Treatment Advocacy Center. I then posted
an excellent piece John Grohol had written in regards to those issues. The quote by John Grohol was edited back to nothing but a link but the moderator's full quote by Torrey stayed in place.
It just got worse after that. Threads locked, posts edited, posts radically modified, posts completely dissappearing! I was seriously starting to get paranoid about the dissappearing post issue -- wondering if I had merely imagined posting them at all. And still, the posts kept vanishing without any explanation.
The people on the other hand, were much like the people here. Kind, empathic, courteous, honest, trying to be helpful and supportive.
Although the people were nice, I had to bow out because of the manipulative behavior of the moderators. I was starting to think they were actually getting their kicks out of playing mind games on the people there. That part of the experience was rather disturbing. I think I'd quickly go insane in a place like that.
It's worth noting that I didn't go to the parent boards so maybe it's a different kind of environment there. Nonetheless, based on what I did see in just one 24 hour period... I couldn't possibly recommend the place to anyone in good conscience.