I saw this and got thinking
that it is very true. I like it too and do feel consolidation with other people with sz/a/psychotic. I find this bond to be very powerful. I see this in the forum all the time. Any ideas or comments on it? I am just a thinking a lot today.
What makes this solidarity in our souls? I feel like exploring this topic.
Because we are alone. Only we can understand what we think.
But how alone if we bind together?
ā¦because most of us are all āwhacked outā yet āgiftedā at the same time.
I canāt see someone whose reality gets whipped around without feeling tender/connected. It makes me want to help out and fight on their behalf. Itās something that a lot of people donāt understand and donāt care to understand.
Iāve spent so long dealing with experiences that no one around me shares or understands. I know that I can tell you all whatās happening, and you wonāt think Iām lying or scary or just being poetic or overdramatic.
Yes, i didnāt feel alone at this forum. We all have our own story.
I think it comes from surviving a shared adversity.
Like the bonds of war buddies or veterans. Weāve known horrors and internal strife and thereās comfort in sharing our stories.
Nowhere else can I find an entire community of people who arenāt shocked but actually understand what has been my majority experience. I think comparing us to veterans is appropriate. Weāve all been through our own personal hell with common themes that we all understand.
Seems like I always had my own personal take on schizophrenia, as they call it.
Iāve had a few close friends who had schizophrenia. Yes, that bond is there. My friends with schizophrenia were nicer to be around than any friend I had prior to becoming schizophrenia. They were mellow and funny which is amazing considering the s*it they had been through in their life.
I had two friends in particular who I knew for years. One of them was a couple of years older than me and we used to go out to eat, or go to clubs or just sit on the front porch and kick back with a couple of beers and watch the people walk by and just relax. He was a cool guy.
We lost contact with each other but when we met again years later it turns out that he had battled alcoholism and I was a recovering addict. But we still hit of after being out of touch with each other for ten years,
My other friend was 10 years younger than me but we got along great. He was one of the funniest guys I have met in my adult life. A huge jazz fan, but he liked many, many other genres of music. I met him in 1993 when we were both in the same board & care home. He introduced me to R.E. M., the B-52ās, Sheryl Crow and The Indigo Girls. I introduced him to Frank Sinatra, old, 1977 Aerosmith, and old Rolling Stones music.
I have dated a few women who had a mental illness but Iām not sure what their diagnosis was. But they were cool, and nice, and funny. Getting a girl to go out with me was like pulling teeth sometimes. It was like I was asking them to marry me but all I was doing was just inviting them to a movie.
Honestly when I first visited this board ā Iād already visited a few other sz boards on the net, and had not found an active or welcoming community in any of them. Some seemed to even encourage psychosis by leaving the board largely without moderation and allowing ppl to announce their plans to self-harm, harm others, or encourage one another to āgive inā to negative thoughts. Really kinda gross and scary.
Anyhow I came here and ā my dx is not sz, itās major depressive disorder w psychosis, and I was worried i wouldnāt have anything in common with the folks here, or that Iād be excluded b/c of my non-sz dx.
Community here is active, warm, welcoming, thoughtful, educated, polite, considerate ā¦ I could go on and on. This has been the ONLY mental health board I actually look forward to visiting, and visit when I am not āin crisisā. (yes I rant here sometimes but hey)
i read about the experiences of others and I hear them describe what itās like in my own head, and that immediately bonds us together. I recognize your experiences, or parts of them, as being my own, and we share that. I feel strongly for the people here even though I donāt know them personally. Is this the same bond shared by airline passengers who have survived a plane crash, or soldiers who have fought in the same war?
I woke up and this song came to mind. Peace.
This forum has been home for me for literally decades. I canāt imagine not being able to come here. I found my wife on here even. we are divorced but that marriage was the best thing that ever happened to me. Thank you for this forum @SzAdmin for helping all this time.
I do feel āthe bondā between us. we are brothers and sisters here.
I donāt know where I would be if it wasnāt for the support and knowledge and caring of this forum.
Thanks to @SzAdmin for all he has done to bring us together, and to @shutterbug as well.
This forum has helped me immensely.
Just starting to come back from some sort of episode/ breakā¦ Most people here are so self aware itās changing my ability to reflect and try to understand what is happening to me.
I canāt believe how much knowledge, care, and camaraderie there is here. I spent my whole life feeling very alone and running from my illness instead of trying to understand and connect.
In life, I get along best with people who have MI.
I use the mental illness as medical illness framework to account for dysfunction and debilitating symptoms. Really, I feel there are aspects of thinking/feeling/being in a different way that are more central to my experience of being alive than the ānormalā parts of me.
People who understand are the most interesting, comforting, and soothing presences I encounter.
We all have been through the ringer, and we know that when a person says he or she has had hard times we have a good idea of what theyāre talking about. That shared suffering is a large part of the bond.
You guys are the best 
I am in the best of company!
For me ,I was turned away by so people that talking to people that have similar problems ,just made my once unbearable life ,ok.
So glad to know others have this and not just me.