Sample Post to Diagnosed discussion forum

Here is a first sample post. I’ll cover some of the neat features of this software.

  1. You can access these discussion areas from your smartphone web browser and they automatically reformat so that they are easy to read and use on your phone.

  2. Email updates to your posting. When you post a message - you automatically get sent people’s responses to your post.

  3. Email responses: You can also email respond back to people’s comments on your posts in the forum

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Friends, Romans, Countrymen,
Lend us your ears (eyes).

This is a test, this is only a test,
Had this been a real problem,
You would not be reading this,
Admin would have deleted it by now.
!! … ??

Hi Sz.com!
How is it going for you?
(Did I do OK?)

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Going well - thanks for posting. Check out some of the other messages and see how the software works. Post a video and see how that works. I think you’ll like this new software.

it would be nice if we could do photo comments

What do you mean by Photo comments?

You can copy any photo you see on the web (just click/select and copy, then paste) the photos into these forum text areas and they automatically get posted - like this one here:

thats awesome! although i am not digging this 20 character limit for posts…

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20 character limit?
Huh?
Donde?

What do you mean by 20 character limit? The character limit in the messages is actually 16,000 - hopefully enough. Here is an example of a longer post (below):

The First Steps Towards Proper Diagnosis

The first step in getting treatment for schizophrenia is getting a correct diagnosis. This can be a more difficult than it might seem because the symptoms of schizophrenia can be similar at times to other major brain disorders such as bipolar disorder (Manic/Depression) or even major depression, or because a person with schizophrenia may be paranoid or believe that nothing is wrong and may not want to go to see a doctor. Because many regular family doctors may not be very familiar with schizophrenia it is important to see a good psychiatrist that is experienced in the diagnosis and treatment of schizophrenia. One way to do this is to contact a local support group that deals with brain disorders such as schizophrenia and talk to the other members that already have experience with the local psychiatrists. If that is not convenient, we recommend you join in our discussion areas (see “parents” area or “Main Area” listed on home page) and ask there if anyone can recommend a good psychiatrist in your area. Local members may be able to recommend a good psychiatrist experienced in schizophenia that they have worked with. As with most serious illnesses, its important to get diagnosis and treatment as quickly as possible.

The Common Symptoms of Schizophrenia

The First Signs of Schizophrenia - Personal Stories
The Importance of Keeping a Journal - For best diagnosis and recovery of person with schizophrenia

Symptoms of Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is characterized by profound disruption in cognition and emotion, affecting the most fundamental human attributes: language, thought, perception, affect, and sense of self. The array of symptoms, while wide ranging, frequently includes psychotic manifestations, such as hearing internal voices or experiencing other sensations not connected to an obvious source (hallucinations) and assigning unusual significance or meaning to normal events or holding fixed false personal beliefs (delusions). No single symptom is definitive for diagnosis; rather, the diagnosis encompasses a pattern of signs and symptoms, in conjunction with impaired occupational or social functioning (Source: DSM-IV -available on Amazon.com Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders DSM-IV-TR).
Symptoms are typically divided into positive and negative symptoms because of their impact on diagnosis and treatment. Positive symptoms are those that appear to reflect an excess or distortion of normal functions. The diagnosis of schizophrenia, according to DSM-IV, requires at least 1-month duration of two or more positive symptoms, unless hallucinations or delusions are especially bizarre, in which case one alone suffices for diagnosis. Negative symptoms are those that appear to reflect a diminution or loss of normal functions. These often persist in the lives of people with schizophrenia during periods of low (or absent) positive symptoms. Negative symptoms are difficult to evaluate because they are not as grossly abnormal as positives ones and may be caused by a variety of other factors as well (e.g., as an adaptation to a persecutory delusion). However, advancements in diagnostic assessment tools are being made.

Diagnosis is complicated by early treatment of schizophrenia’s positive symptoms. Antipsychotic medications, particularly the traditional ones, often produce side effects that closely resemble the negative symptoms of affective flattening and avolition. In addition, other negative symptoms are sometimes present in schizophrenia but not often enough to satisfy diagnostic criteria (DSM-IV): loss of usual interests or pleasures (anhedonia); disturbances of sleep and eating; dysphoric mood (depressed, anxious, irritable, or angry mood); and difficulty concentrating or focusing attention.

Currently, discussion is ongoing within the field regarding the need for a third category of symptoms for diagnosis: disorganized symptoms. Disorganized symptoms include thought disorder, confusion, disorientation, and memory problems. While they are listed by DSM-IV as common in schizophrenia—especially during exacerbations of positive or negative symptoms (DSM-IV)—they do not yet constitute a formal new category of symptoms. Some researchers think that a new category is not warranted because disorganized symptoms may instead reflect an underlying dysfunction common to several psychotic disorders, rather than being unique to schizophrenia.

Diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia (USA criteria)

you can only post a message if it has a minimum of 20 characters.

Hello, hello, fellow schizophrenia.com members. This is my first post on the new boards, which seem to be working ok for me.

shadow

(just an FYI, I just changed my username)

Ah - we’re trying to encourage longer and more thoughtful conversations and posts - not the “Yeh I agree” type of responses.

We’ll see how it goes over the next few months. We’re still early in the testing and implementation of this new forums software.

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Ok , and i also want to bring up that i cant post links, or post photos either.

I decided to come back to the forums of schizophrenia.com after seeing the post in the old discussion board that had a link to the new board. I hope the new forum software works well.

Got it,
We have a 20 character minimum…
That’s not to bad.
Hope it don’t lead to mindless rambling…
Especially from me.
Wont that mess with those who use Twitter?
Hehehe, imagine the stress thinking how to spell words without abreviating.

The spam protection feature prevents new users from posting links or pictures immediately. You have to read a certain number of posts, and log in a few times before you can do those things. This should preven t us from having any spam for a long time.

Its a bit of a hassle in the short term as many of you are long time users - sorry about that.

Yes - accounts can be deleted if you ask. You can also edit your profile so that no information is in it - so effectively deleting your information.

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Hey, this is pretty cool! Is there private messaging?

Yes - private messaging. Just click on someone’s avatar and you can see their profile and private message from there - I think.

Just hold your mouse over the different icons under each message and it will tell you what they do. Heart" - if you like something, Flag if you think something is innappropriate for our forums (and we’ll be notified and check it out), - etc.