What was your first experience with Psych Central?

What was your first experience with Psych Central? Who did you meet? How has PC helped you? Just curious. Add or leave out anything you like.

Ry

Dec '96, I remember a few online then met in person (e.g. the infamous DudleyDoRite).

my first experience was good but we didn't kiss on the first date

a poster named Zenhussy dragged me over. i had been banned for the umpteenth time from another board because i couldn't deal with a naked emperor any longer.....and Doc John put an internet travelers lounge for all the road weary nuts and then Ems picked me up and shook me around and eventually i ventured out of the lounge and started making friends and am ever so grateful for this place. i'm able to post things here that i would have never, ever posted in my past "home" and i receive feedback here from a host of people..not a little cliche of posters.......i love it!!!!!!! (how's that for a run on sentence and thought?)

I went into chat my first night and met MJ. It's been an interesting journey since I first posted almost a year ago. I have my ups and downs, but my downs happen less frequently and are usually less severe.
Blessings,
Jon

This is my story of my early involvement with Psych Central. I'm sliding into fear and apathy, with a lot of colitis really taking it out of me, so I feel a bit disconnected to what I wrote last fall after a few months here. I reminds me that I can and sometimes do feel better.

OLD POST:
To Everyone on the Forums Community --

When I started coming here a few months ago, I could hardly move. I was almost paralyzed with fear and indecision. Last night, after I left the chat room, I realized how important it has been to feel like a member of this community.

I have not been judged for being ill. In fact, it is through the comments I read on the depression forum that it sunk in that I am ILL. I am not lazy, I am not morally deficient, I am not a mental weakling. I could not "snap out of it" or "pull myself up by the bootstraps." I was not being a "drama queen" to get attention. In fact, I isolated deeper and deeper in this bat cave of an apartment that gets so little sunshine and light. Until at last, all I had were a few telephone contacts a month with people I've known a long time and my mom, and the Forums. I had to hear the message that this is an illness over and over and over again.

I was told to get medications and go back to therapy. And, eventually, I crawled out of the recliner, where I sit with the laptop growing out of my thighs like a bionic creature, and did these things.

I started PM'ing a few people, as suggested, and gradually, I'd stop into the Chat Room for a few minutes here and there. Until finally it doesn't seem strange and foreign anymore. It feels . . . nice.

I am getting better. I got some paying work by forcing myself by keeping an apppointment that I felt too messed up to keep, but I did it anyway. I feel great to be doing something I enjoy that pays money. If you read my posts, you see that I may not yet always be able to keep commitments, but by the grace of God, I kept one that made a big difference in my life. I hope to someday be the person I used to be who was able to keep just about all commitments.

I am not going to be nominated for Miss Congeniality this year; I have a long way to go to get a life that is in balance, adding exercise and better nutrition, and more efforts to mix with people. A lot more efforts. I fear backsliding to where I've been, and some days are worse than others.

But when I left the Chat Room last night, I knew that people were not going to chatter about how, "Boy, she's a strange one, isn't she."

And I realized how very, very important the forums have been to my progress. It was a place where I could come and whine as much as I wanted to and not be judged. Where no one said mean things to me. Or tried to push his or her way of life on me. Offered a lot of dumb, meaningless platitudes. Or tried to make me feel guilty because I hadn't kept some commitment, or lived up to my or someone else's expectations, or because I felt life wasn't worth living. Couldn't make a decision. And struggled with this mean illness.

Yet, at the same time, there was wisdom and insight and putting things in a different perspective, in contexts I hadn't thought of before. And repetition, so that ideas such as "you have an illness" and "you may benefit from medication" and "why don't you see a therapist?" could sink through my head. Through the miasma of pain I've been in.

I read the words of what that pain feels like to others, and I knew that I was not alone. I wasn't strange or weird, it had happened to others. And they struggled, too. And for some, it had gotten better, and they stayed on the forums to help others. And their messages gave me hope.

Sometimes someone would thank me for caring -- and I wouldn't feel so lonely and worthless and disconnected from people and life when that happened. Or offer hugs, personal hugs to me!!!!, and that felt great, too.

But mostly having the community HERE was important. The gradual feeling that there was a place where I could come where it was okay just to be. Just to be.

Thank you with all my heart, Forums friends. And Dr. John for making this possible.
________________________________________

address for original post & thread

http://forums.psychcentral.com/showf...p;Number=88724

YES PC was my first.

I met KD, AG, RY, WTF,Ozzie and countless others who have been the best bunch of peeps a gal could ever wish for.

I had been using another "major" health forum for years but the owners/admins/mods had become so zealous and strict that even "attempting to contact" another member could get you banned. Even words like "darn" and common medical terms were against the rules and a lot of people were becoming upset and leaving over this and so one day I decided to leave and discovered this place (after a long search under "health forums").

Then I did a restore of my hard drive and lost the URL for a long time but finally found it again. I came back here from time to time after that but mostly lurked. I did'nt know anyone here and was'nt ready to open up just yet. It was'nt until I had several MAJOR panic attacks and found out that I could'nt log into the other health site (they were always having problems, warning, banning, deleting posts, etc) that I finally had had enough and decided to devote all my time here and I hav'nt looked back since:-)

The other forum, you'd be luck to get a reply (if you got any at all) in a week and this forum I often get 3-4 replies in an hour (depending on the topic of course). That was another "plus" for me (the fact that this dforum is very active (lots of caring people, chat, help-line, PM's, etc).

- Glad to share!

I was searching for information about self-injury, since I had just had a bad episode with that, and was realizing that it wasn't just me who did that. One of the sites I found had a link to here, and the SI forum was created here right about that time. I really needed to find and be able to talk to other people who did what I did, and they were here. Some of the people I initially felt like I became friends with included Zenobia, Crying_Child, Darkeyes, Mj, and Nowheretorun. I apologize if I forgot to mention someone. Some of the deepest friendships here developed later than right at first. This place felt like a place where I could belong right from the first, and that was something I desperately needed, since I have never felt like I could belong anywhere. It was so good to be understood, and not to be alone. I've learned so much, and also, when I moved last summer, I had some continuity because I had a community that I didn't lose when I relocated. That's the first of many times that I have moved that I was able to keep important connections with people like this. And now, as the community is growing, I'm learning how to cope with being part of a larger community, which has always been a scary thing for me even though I grew up in cities. Online friends, here and other places, have helped me to develop some social skills, and the ability to talk to people and get to know them and let them get to know me. I never had those things before.

As you can see from under avatar... I was first here the day after Christmas 03.

Depression. I came here to kill time instead of killing myself.

Still have. Still do.

I remember MJ, Rapunzel, Septembermorn, DocJohn, Ozzie, bptoo, dexter, LMO, Fuzzybear and....the rest :} Was Colors here then too? And Peanut61.... and Lady Dragus!... I feel like Romper Room mirror....

Wow...You want memory from me?? Ok Ryan, I will try since it is you who asked. Just because you are so kind to all.

My first experiance was just after my father died. It really shook everybody up so I was just looking for something on the net that might help or distract. I found this place.

The first people who reached out were Sweetcrusader, Ozzie, Fuzzybear, Leslie, Sky, Estersvirtue, Butterflylady, and Rudylizard. All were very wonderful.

btw...I could remember a couple but I had to cheat and look.

I could not believe that strangers actually showed more caring than my "friends" and family.

I found the forums shortly after getting a computer and the internet by searching quizzes or disorders. This is my first forum I ever had joined and had no Idea what I was doing.

My first post was in anxiety of the inability to take a shower and panic. I recall bringing in the new year 2004 on line here so I was not alone on new years.

The forum has gotten much bigger and the new features like the saved quiz's have been a big help for my T in tracking my moods and scores.

I have never been in the chat room my computer is really old and it takes close to 15 minutes to read a thread and reply. I know I am never alone 24/7. I am thankful for the forum and have alot of respect for it. Rambling......Chris

i had been searching in vain for an online support community like what my mom had when she had cancer. she was in forums then with other cancer patients, and several of the women were planning to have a gathering in michigan or someplace. my mom was planning to go but got too sick, so guess what? they all came here instead! we all had the best time. they made t-shirts with CSG on them (Cancer Support Group) and we all wore them to dinner and took pictures. Anyway, I was looking for a group like that. I made a post about my problems but didn't get any replies so I started replying to posts and going to chat and the rest is history! i found a group like what she had!! yay!

:wave_hello: This is my first post. A friend from another web site sent me over here. Thanks BamaSurvivor.

I battle on and off with depression. Usually it's off, but when I have to deal with my ex-husband who's controlling and an emotional blackmailer I tend to go into a slump and feel helpless. He moved me away from my friends and family around the time I started having job success. 15 years later and I still haven't made any friends in this community. Four-plus years after being out of the same house as him, I still have made no friends. I still go out and do things alone, keeping my chin up and not dwelling on the alone-ness in public, hoping that someday I'll make one friend and then that will turn into more friends.

Right now I'm in a bit of a low spot. I'm tired of being 100% alone but I don't feel I have anything to offer anyone even as far as friendship. I try to focus on the positives in my life - my kids, my pets, my good physical health, a roof over my head, a job - but then I weigh it against the fact that my ex still tries to control me with emotional threats, and some days I just can't rise above it. I start to think I'm worthless and incapable of anything.

I know you have to be happy with yourself before you can be happy with anyone else, and you can't rely on other people to MAKE you happy. But having some real live people to interact with occasionally would make that process so much easier.

I don't want to ruminate about how horrible my life is, because it really isn't except in a few spots. Unfortunately, some days those few spots want to take the spotlight and all I want to do is stay miserable.

Hopefully I can come here on the down days and sniffle in public and get over it so it doesn't eat away at me for too long.

Well, here's mine. I had hit a very rough spell in January after my recent break-up with my gf of 3 years. Needless to say, this sad time sent me into a bipolar downslide from hell. I was ill and the break-up only made things worse. I was stuck in Michigan with no family or friends. My closest family was 1400 miles away in Texas. I was suicidal for the first time in years and beginning to hear the bipolar voices of doom... and to top it all off I was drinking. I was desperately searching the internet for a place to talk to someone and I happened to run into PC. Cottoncandylocks was the first person I met here. She said later that she could sense I was in danger and called me. We talked for a few hours and she lifted my spirits enough for me to see a small light of hope. Since then I have made so many wonderful friends that have held my hand as I faced a hard break-up, started therapy and meds, dealt with abuse, and just about anything that could come up in life. Hmmm... no wonder I'm addicted LOL. Thanks for reading.

Ry