[Crook32]

My T wants me to do online support groups. Anyone suggests other besides this one?

Hi Crook32. I have been a member of other online support group forums like this, but all of the others I was on grew quieter and quieter, or triggering in some way. I find this to be much busier than others, and a pleasant, supportive, and safe feeling place.

If you are interested, I believe that DBSA (Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance) has online support groups that are like a moderated live chat support group of sorts. In the long ago past, I participated in some. It was set for specific days and times of the week where people would log in (there were a few day and time options to accommodate different time zones, etc.) The format was quite similar to that of an in-person DBSA support group. There was at least one facilitator that introduced each meeting, posted quick rules and announcements, and then managed the live online meeting. Participants brought up topics, sort of how we bring up topics here, then members would provide feedback, experience, advice, etc. I believe that still exists. If it is of interest, you can check it out. It was and I'm sure still is free.

[Blueberrybook]

I belonged to another forum before this one, but I'm not going to recommend it. People turned petty & mean, the moderators acted like they were MDs or something, and if you said anything that they didn't believe was true, they stopped responding at all to any of your legitimate posts and nearly all of the forum did too. This one I've found to be most active.

I do belong to an ED recovery forum, but it's slowed down a lot; I don't post there much any more.

And it is nice that this PC has lots of mental health forums for other issues that can accompany bipolar, like anxiety/panic, PTSD, eating disorders, etc.

[Fuzzybear]

I can’t really recommend another forum either.

The forum mentioned above sounds like an absolute nightmare .... ggggrrrrrrrrrrrr

I have to admit that on another forum I have wondered if some things said are true.. but really who am I (or anyone) to judge.

[~Christina]

I tried numerous ones prior to finding PC and this by far is the best one out there

Jmho

Try Reddit. It's a different experience, but you can post all sorts of things anonymously and you'll get tons of replies. It's just not a traditonal forum, so idk if you want a forum or not, but I use Reddit.

Sometimes I've gotten 30 replies on a single thread within 2 hours. It's super active, with millions and millions of people online all at once. Let me know if you're interested and I can help point you to good "subreddits" (aka subforums). Some subreddits have 300+ people online looking at them at any given time. I've seen some with 800 people online. You're seriously bound to get tons of replies.

Reddit doesn't make me want to kill myself.

I also go to Reddit, but I agree that is is a slightly different experience. Though many people usually do answer, and many are friendly, it doesn't feel as close knit as PC, in my view. I find this forum and Reddit as a good balance. One bipolar subreddit is full of memes, which are fine, but can get old. There is another that is more support oriented. I'm sure the previous posters mentioning Reddit know where I'm referring to.

Originally Posted by BirdDancer

I also go to Reddit, but I agree that is is a slightly different experience. Though many people usually do answer, and many are friendly, it doesn't feel as close knit as PC, in my view. I find this forum and Reddit as a good balance. One bipolar subreddit is full of memes, which are fine, but can get old. There is another that is more support oriented. I'm sure the previous posters mentioning Reddit know where I'm referring to.

Yes. /r/bipolarreddit is the good one. The /r/bipolar one is unhelpful for the most part. I get bored of people karma farming in /r/bipolar. I agree that it's full of memes, and yes, it does get old after a while.