Does anyone attend a support group on top of their pdoc/therapist? I recently found a SZ support group in seattle and have been working up the courage to attend a session to meet other people with SZ (so far all I have is this forum and some bi polar friends in real life who have experienced psychosis but no SZ)
I’very heard some people on the forum say they have, but that they didn’t really like it because it was kind of and downer. Like the thought of seeing people sicker then you kinda bums you out.
I really wanted to go to a Schizoaffective Support Group, not a Schizophrenia or Bipolar group.
Unfortunately there are no Schizoaffective Support groups in my area so my brother and I go to this Bipolar and Depression Support Group every week.
I am one of the lower functioning people there so I kind of feel left out a bit.
I go to a Christian MI group. Lots of good people there a couple with sz or SZA ,loved ones also it’s a good group, up beat but faith based so I think that makes a big difference to me. Not for everyone but everyone is welcome. I’ve been to NAMI meetings and there less positive. It’s nice to meet others. Very accepting non judgmental people, has been my experience.
Most here are for anyone who suffer any mental distress. Richmond fellowship use to be the experts here but also have gone to anyone who suffer any mental distress.
I had asked my psychiatist in the past when I was still seeing him for something like this. He had asked around in his network to see if I could get in touch with someone in a similar situation. Not much success. He was worried as well about the meet-up not being beneficial to either myself or the people he could find for the same reason: different levels of functioning. Ah well. There is this patients association in my country that does meetups, but I don’t like the agenda they seem to be pushing on their website.
There’s not a single psychosis support group in my whole state. Even finding one for schizophrenia is really difficult and I haven’t been successful in finding one yet. The only thing here seems to be NAMI and the one close to me meets irregularly at weird times like the third weekday of every other month when the blue moon has risen or whatever. I would love an in person support group for psychosis.
They had group therapy for “dual diagnosis” individuals at the public clinics I visited. (In case you don’t know, “dual diagnosis” means chemically addicted as well as mentally ill.) I got some good out of it. They also have a twelve step group called “emotions anonymous” that targets people with no addiction problems but who are suffering anyway. They usually have a group of this type in any city of any size. Group therapy always has been helpful to me.
I used to go to a Depression/ Bipolar support group for years but my issues were not their issues. And they did not understand me at all. But they were a good sounding board for me anyway, just to talk about my problems and get things off of my chest so to speak. I quit going because there were a couple of guys there that were hitting on me and they got all butt hurt when I rejected them and they retaliated.