Online Support with regular meetings? - Anxiety and Depre...

Anxiety and Depression Support

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Online Support with regular meetings?

Lakewolf profile image
23 Replies

I just realised how badly I need therapy...and there is a one year waiting list here where I live.

Would it be possible, you think, to have an online group that had regular meetings once a week?

I just had an incident with my partner, and my bowels are getting SERIOUSLY messed up. Since 5 years ago, when the sepsis incident occurred, anytime there’s the slightest incidation of rehospitalisation for Chris, I go into a silent panic. I’ve watched myself become self-absorbed and brooding...and I CANNOT get out of it.

What do you think? Regular text meetings on Skype or G+ ?

I know we can do it. Please...I DESPERATELY need something.

I do not know what to do.

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Lakewolf profile image
Lakewolf
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23 Replies
fauxartist profile image
fauxartist

I would say that because people like to come and go on this site because they need to in order to cope with the subject matter, I don't know how well setting up a group meeting would go. I wish you the best though in your efforts, but I will say we seem to be doing pretty well here with posting and commenting as everyday mostly different people come and go. With all these members it's still mostly a site where people prefer to just read comments.

Lakewolf profile image
Lakewolf in reply tofauxartist

Maybe I’ll do a little research online & post the results. Be careful of 12 step programs...AA may work for some, but is not the cure-all it seems to be.

Perhaps I should write a warning post of the pitfalls of self-help groups. It’ll be an informative article, with a plethora of references. I am told I am overthorough.

fauxartist profile image
fauxartist in reply toLakewolf

12 step groups are what they are really. They are not a cult, and not a religion, although they were started in a church basement by a nun and I believe a priest, and then Dr. Bob and Bill wrote the Big Book on AA and it became a more organized group. The one thing about AA is that for real world in person support that does not cost you money...you can get that in some meetings. I didn't care for the religious aspect many meetings took on as it is AA's policy to not take on any one religion, or political platform. The other thing is when I was there, they didn't like any 'psychobabble'...and didn't support mental health help....all you had to do was do the 'work', meaning; do the 12 steps and turn it over, and let go ..... I didn't agree with not having help with mental health issues, since I drank to self medicate my depression and numb my child abuse. The rooms were full of what is called 'Dry Drunks' because they were still miserable, just sober.

Lakewolf profile image
Lakewolf in reply tofauxartist

Won’t debate the issue. To what administrator should I submit the post?

I was involved in politics in a State Task Force @ Age 17. Politics is about “power”, defined as control over other people’s lives.

Truth, on the other hand seeks to disencumber, and provide justice to the oppressed.

I write Truth, with research from unimpeachable sources.

fauxartist profile image
fauxartist in reply toLakewolf

I'm not sure what you mean about politics?....I think some of the admin might be listed in the pinned posts on the upper right side.

Lakewolf profile image
Lakewolf in reply tofauxartist

Thank you!

Lakewolf profile image
Lakewolf in reply tofauxartist

Why are alcoholics automatically sentenced in a drug court to AA meetings? That violates the Founders’ intention as stated in the literature.

I was in for 13 years, and have researched the subject thoroughly.

I know things that would horrify you...and I can prove them.

fauxartist profile image
fauxartist in reply toLakewolf

I understand what your saying and I believe you, and there are many, many things I could also share, as I've been in recovery for over 3 decades.....there were 13th steppers trying to hook up with newbies, bully's, abuse, I know...I've been told because I wanted to introduce myself as addicted to all things addictive at a particular women's AA meeting, even though I also said I was a recovering alcoholic. I was told I could stay if I didn't mention addiction, and then I said....what do you think alcoholism is....it's an addiction to alcohol...and I left.

I also had some very good experiences in the beginning of my recovery when I did go to AA meetings. I had complete strangers willing to help me with what I needed at the time, and they did. People are people, and it's said you take what you need and leave the rest.

Lakewolf profile image
Lakewolf in reply tofauxartist

Yes...but those who are vulnerable need a guide on what to watch out for.

Had a good friend who was reintroduced to heroin in an AA meeting. She was vulnerable. A dealer in the group got her address...and she couldn’t resist.

She is gone now. Really miss her.

fauxartist profile image
fauxartist in reply toLakewolf

I'm very sorry for your loss, and it's sickening that happened. Sadly it happens ....they are just people...good and bad. That's the truth of it. No argument here.

Lakewolf profile image
Lakewolf in reply tofauxartist

It hurt. Badly.

He & his friends followed me home one night, found my car, broke into it...& urinated in my gas tank.

I saw her every day for 2 1/2 hours. There was a Baroche Music Festival at Princeton we attended—I was thrilled to death to find someone to really do things with— then she met a man.

They were engaged to be married.

He had cancer...& she stole his Percodan.

Wedding off.

I waxed her car not long after...saw her once in Trenton... then I would see her with her dealer driving her car. She was stoned out of her mind. She’d given me a play she’d written. Said it would be amitzvah if I accepted it.

I didn’t know I was Jewish then... but somehow she did. She was startled when I didn’t know the word.

It means “good deed”.

I never saw her again. Her name was A. Kraft.

Thanks for listening. Lots of pain inside from so many places & people.

Loving much is a hard thing.

fauxartist profile image
fauxartist in reply toLakewolf

I know what the word means.....and it was a great gift of her to give you. Her friendship was a gift as well.....but I will tell you this from someone who knows the life she lived when using.....she was no longer the person you knew and loved, she had become someone else by then...your friend as you knew her was long gone before she left this mortal coil. And to honor that mitzvah, remember her as you knew her before her addiction took her....honor that friend.....she would want you to know that friend is always in your heart. Addiction is an evil on this earth and a plague that never ends. It only ends when we refuse to be taken by it.

Lakewolf profile image
Lakewolf in reply tofauxartist

That is exactly how I remember her.

When she started using, the person I’d known was gone.

Even when he showed up at her door, she’d call & run to me first... in the beginning.

The last time I saw her, “she” was no longer there.

hypercat54 profile image
hypercat54

Hi I agree with faux and also you couldn't set up an online group using someones else's site. If you want to arrange to talk online off the main board on personal message you can set a thread up of like minded people. x

Lakewolf profile image
Lakewolf in reply tohypercat54

That was my intention. I was going to use Skype. Is it permissible to post the info on here?

hypercat54 profile image
hypercat54 in reply toLakewolf

I shouldn't think so not on the main board. Why not contact the admins and clear this with them as it is possible I am wrong? x

Lakewolf profile image
Lakewolf in reply tohypercat54

I contacted someone, and have a more urgent issue to clear with them.

As soon as this is addressed & I’m notified, I’ll ask about it.

Brian set up a separate chat group about a month ago and some people use it

Lakewolf profile image
Lakewolf in reply to

Thank you!

So sorry that I’ve been so self-absorbed. I get overwhelmed sometimes...but made a MAJOR breakthrough talking with my sister. She uses music to communicate concepts to me...& I get it now.

Again...I apologise to everyone...and am on the right track now.

God helps those who seek to serve Him in Spirit and in Truth.

hypercat54 profile image
hypercat54 in reply to

He was told to do it under pm though and not on the main board. x

Lakewolf profile image
Lakewolf

... a mitzvah...

Zuba profile image
Zuba

You might want to take a notebook and/or sketchbook to any of the following meetings you go to. Then if you get bored, disenchanted or lonely, you have "a friend" with you:

a. DBSA is one possibility. It is depression bipolar support alliance and you can find it online. They are free and they're online now:

dbsalliance.org/

b. 12 step programs offer a lot of good stuff: you get heard, uninterrupted plus a supportive community with a safe, non-authoritarian structure, easy access and some good ideas. You get to hear people struggling with the same stuff as you, basically--

EA is Emotions Anonymous emotionsanonymous.org/

DA is Depression Anonymous depressedanon.com/

ACA, Alanon and CODA are all mostly with relatively "normal" people who are having problems with loved ones, but even us relatively unusual folks are welcome : )

Google them please if interested.

c. Warm Lines & Hot Lines:

"WARM LINES"are to talk to somebody when it's not an emergency: In contrast to a "hot line," which is a crisis line, a warm line is to help people stay out of crisis. You can call when you're feeling lonely, anxious, or depressed. It's run by volunteers with personal lived experience of mental health challenges who've received extensive training to answer calls, provide information on local resources, share their lived experience, and offer a warm, nonjudgmental, responsive human connection to people.

About 1/2 of the USA states have warm lines and you can call any of them; here's Colorado's warm line:

Rocky Mountain Crisis Partner peer line (new as of 7/25/18):

1 844-493-8255 and then press * . Open 7 AM to midnight every day, including holidays.

Don't give up if you get somebody who "doesn't get it." Sometimes a non-empathic person answers, and when u became aware of it, get out of there, saying "I'll be fine, thanks, goodnight." And then call another warmline (other states') and get somebody who understands. warmline.org/#

More about Warm Lines:

madinamerica.com/2014/06/wa...

HOTLINES are for crisis: open free, 24/7/365, anonymous. Yeah, I know: you don't want to be in crisis, and if you don't reach out for help, you're not in crisis, right? Wrong. When you're in crisis, you're just in crisis. I used these lines a bunch after a friend suicided in 1984. Sometimes I got an idiot on the other end, and when I became aware of it, I got out of there, saying "I'll be fine, thanks, goodnight." And then I called another hotline and got somebody who understood. So don't give up if you get somebody who "doesn't get it."

Even if it's called a suicide hotline, you can call and talk with them. Just tell them, "This is not a life-threatening emergency but if you're free, I'd like to talk. I'm having a hard time. If someone calls and it is an emergency, I'll understand if you cut me off, it's fine."

If you're afraid of them locking you up, here's the deal: if you say you are planning to suicide soon, they'll 911, trace you and the cops will come; whereas if you say you're having suicidal fantasies (common for folks in chronic pain) but don't plan on doing it in the short-term, you're safe: they won't 911 you. They are trained to question you and determine this.

a. Colorado crisis hotline: 1-844-493-8255 (TALK) or, text "TALK" to 38255

b.

Colorado Suicide & Crisis Hotlines - When You Feel You Can't Go On... Call a Suicide Hotline. / SuicideHotlines.com - Direction for immediate crisis intervention for the gravely suicidal & treatment for major clinical suicidal depression.

Colorado Suicide & Crisis Hotlines - When You Feel You Can't Go On... Ca...

c. National hotline: 1-800-SUICIDE or 1-800-784-2433

Zuba profile image
Zuba

You might want to take a notebook and/or sketchbook to any of the following meetings you go to. Then if you get bored, disenchanted or lonely, you have "a friend" with you:

a. DBSA is one possibility. It is depression bipolar support alliance and you can find it online. They are free and they're online now:

dbsalliance.org/

b. 12 step programs offer a lot of good stuff: you get heard, uninterrupted plus a supportive community with a safe, non-authoritarian structure, easy access and some good ideas. You get to hear people struggling with the same stuff as you, basically--

EA is Emotions Anonymous emotionsanonymous.org/

DA is Depression Anonymous depressedanon.com/

ACA, Alanon and CODA are all mostly with relatively "normal" people who are having problems with loved ones, but even us relatively unusual folks are welcome : )

Google them please if interested.

c. Warm Lines & Hot Lines:

"WARM LINES"are to talk to somebody when it's not an emergency: In contrast to a "hot line," which is a crisis line, a warm line is to help people stay out of crisis. You can call when you're feeling lonely, anxious, or depressed. It's run by volunteers with personal lived experience of mental health challenges who've received extensive training to answer calls, provide information on local resources, share their lived experience, and offer a warm, nonjudgmental, responsive human connection to people.

About 1/2 of the USA states have warm lines and you can call any of them; here's Colorado's warm line:

Rocky Mountain Crisis Partner peer line (new as of 7/25/18):

1 844-493-8255 and then press * . Open 7 AM to midnight every day, including holidays.

Don't give up if you get somebody who "doesn't get it." Sometimes a non-empathic person answers, and when u became aware of it, get out of there, saying "I'll be fine, thanks, goodnight." And then call another warmline (other states') and get somebody who understands. warmline.org/#

More about Warm Lines:

madinamerica.com/2014/06/wa...

HOTLINES are for crisis: open free, 24/7/365, anonymous. Yeah, I know: you don't want to be in crisis, and if you don't reach out for help, you're not in crisis, right? Wrong. When you're in crisis, you're just in crisis. I used these lines a bunch after a friend suicided in 1984. Sometimes I got an idiot on the other end, and when I became aware of it, I got out of there, saying "I'll be fine, thanks, goodnight." And then I called another hotline and got somebody who understood. So don't give up if you get somebody who "doesn't get it."

Even if it's called a suicide hotline, you can call and talk with them. Just tell them, "This is not a life-threatening emergency but if you're free, I'd like to talk. I'm having a hard time. If someone calls and it is an emergency, I'll understand if you cut me off, it's fine."

If you're afraid of them locking you up, here's the deal: if you say you are planning to suicide soon, they'll 911, trace you and the cops will come; whereas if you say you're having suicidal fantasies (common for folks in chronic pain) but don't plan on doing it in the short-term, you're safe: they won't 911 you. They are trained to question you and determine this.

a. Colorado crisis hotline: 1-844-493-8255 (TALK) or, text "TALK" to 38255

b.

Colorado Suicide & Crisis Hotlines - When You Feel You Can't Go On... Call a Suicide Hotline. / SuicideHotlines.com - Direction for immediate crisis intervention for the gravely suicidal & treatment for major clinical suicidal depression.

Colorado Suicide & Crisis Hotlines - When You Feel You Can't Go On... Ca...

c. National hotline: 1-800-SUICIDE or 1-800-784-2433

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