the thing about being in online forums is that it can help if you know how to do it...

the first thing with any online site that I am a member of is each website carries a disclaimer saying not to use whats on the site for diagnosis or instead of treatment and to first check with treatment providers.

thats the golden rule of online mental health forums. they dont want people to be ignoring their treatment providers or going against their treatment providers or want more harm to happen. and frankly these disclaimers make it so that the websites, the members on the site and the forum creators are not responsible for the decisions that each member makes and makes it so that if someone does decide to go against the disclaimer and go by those they meet online instead of their own treatment providers the site and anyone else can not take the blame or be held responsible.

what all that boils down to is that yea in the forums that I am a member of I do get people telling me to do things that are going against what my treatment providers tell me. it isnt the other members fault for telling me to listen to my head voices. if I do what the other members tell me to do and it goes against my treatment providers who's fault is it? mine for not following my treatment providers first.

my point is yes some have told you to listen to your chatter but only you can decide whether you want to follow your treatment providers or follow what those online tell you to do. no one else is at fault for the fact that you are finding yourself in a conflict of what to do... follow those online or follow your treatment provider.

my first suggestion is sit down, take a breather and decide what you want to do... and whether you can find a way in yourself to balance the real life help of your treatment providers and that of strangers on the internet telling you what to do. thats the first thing I would do if in your situation.

the second suggestion is once you have decided which you want to do.... follow your treatment provider or follow strangers online the next step is phasing out or limiting the one you dont want...

example for me its a no brainer.... hands down I choose my treatment providers over strangers on the internet forums. so if I was in your situaiton I would limit how much I am online in the mental health forums until I could be sure that I can control my actions and behaviors to the point of putting my treatment providers first. (I have actually had to do this when my being in mental health forums were conflicting with my treatment providers. bottom line I want to get better not get worse thanks to strangers telling me to do things that goes against my treatment providers.,)

the next thing I would suggest is figure out how to balance what time I do spend online.. first and foremost if its something that I am not doing in therapy at the moment, doesnt matter who online is telling me what. I pass on by anything that is not related to my own treatment plans. that right there knocks out a whole bunch of those threads and posts and people trying to be so helpful but yet Im not there yet and dont want to mess my own treatment up. I can always go back to those threads and posts later as I get to them or need them.

right now your treatment provider has told you that they want you to be able to get some sleep and she knows you are in these forums and knows that you are trying to follow what everyone online is telling you to do. yes it can seem like a conflict, sleep and listen to chatter.. but it actually isnt. there is nothing saying you cant listen and talk with the chatter during times when you are not supposed to be sleeping.

actually most people that I know that are dissociative dont stay up listening to their head chatter. most that I know hear the chatter and tell the chatter things like "not now its bed time, talk to you in the morning" then they fall asleep.

you see dissociatives have this neat way of "tuning out" "spacing out" and "disconnecting" when they encounter times when they have to do one thing but other things are interfering. for example I never had a problem with chatter at night not even with those alters that I was co conscious with. why because my dissociation skills gave me the ability to multi task. I was able to close my eyes at night and "tune out" "space out and disconnect" dissociatively anything that was a trigger for me. Rainy wanted to chatter fine go for it rainy Im going to sleep and tune out, space out disconnect would happen and the next thing I knew it was morning.

your treatment provider wants you to sleep when you are supposed to be getting sleep and if you want to listen to the chatter at times when you are not supposed to be sleeping. this is something that comes naturally for dissociative disorders so when you go to bed do your thing, do what comes naturally for you as a dissociative and disconnect from the chatter and sleep.

if she is doing what my own treatment providers were doing .. she is putting the decisions in your own choices. you can choose to not sleep and listen tot he voices or as a dissociative do what comes naturally for you and disconnect and get sleep and talk to them later during the times when you are not supposed to be sleeping.

like my treatment provider explained to me... I didnt go 20 some odd years with out sleep. so how did I do it from before the age of 5 all the way up to adult hood? its just normal for dissociatives to be able to sleep while the alters and voices and chatter is going on. its what they have done all their lives. being in treatment and being diagnosed or not doesnt change that.

my suggestion give what your treatment provider is trying to get you to do first and foremost. even if like I had to do, make the choice to take a break from forums when they interfere with what the treatment providers want to happen. its ok. the forums arent going anywhere and if they do theres more right behind them. its online. but what really counts is you and your real life help.