I'm terribly sorry, in future would you prefer me to use the term mentals? I wouldn't want to sound old-fashioned.
I have thankfully managed to avoid any kind of psychotherapy thus far, but regardless of their "input" one would assume that a qualified supervisor provides a certain amount of "teacher in the room" constraints on behaviour. And, certainly if you're feeling fragile, threads here largely lack that - I take it you didn't see the famous suicide thread? Becuase I guarantee you, the same sort of behaviour would have gone on were it the person in question who'd started the thread rather than a concerned friend. And that wouldn't have ended well.
(wellgroomedwookiee is a filthy-minded hobgoblin, Thu 8 Oct 2009, 23:50, 2 replies, latest was 16 years ago)

Group Theorpy works, it helps you bounce off ideas, and on an anominus forum it works even better.
But this place, esspeicalay most of hte people here, arn't anominius.

And there is a great danger of replacing real life friends with online ones, and that leads to a self distrcutive path.
( G/PP 💩💩💩💩💩&#128, Fri 9 Oct 2009, 0:08, Reply)

I don't think anyone would give up real friends for the nutters on here.
Well maybe a couple.
( girlinthehole, Fri 9 Oct 2009, 0:11, Reply)

It's an easy mistake to make.
In a world where you want to shut everything out, all the emotions and reactions, you'll become more absorbed in it, and the more you are, the less your offline mates see if you.
( G/PP 💩💩💩💩💩&#128, Fri 9 Oct 2009, 0:15, Reply)

Group therapy works.
Expecting to be able to unburden yourself online, especially somewhere like b3ta, without getting horrifically negative reactions (from trolls, people that just don't like you or indeed folks who're just in bad mood) that can be really quite damaging - that strikes me as an error.
(wellgroomedwookiee is a filthy-minded hobgoblin, Fri 9 Oct 2009, 0:12, Reply)

Depends on how attached you are.
A negative comment from a stranger would mean nothing to me, one from someone form here would mean something, and from real life mates it'll be really negative.

This place removes a lot of the whole human contact experiance (facial expresions, moods, phsyical..etc), so it's too easy.
( G/PP 💩💩💩💩💩&#128, Fri 9 Oct 2009, 0:19, Reply)

yeah, naivety is a dangerous thing.
there is no perfect system to deal with the multi-faceted thing that is flawed human psychology.
and flawed is what we all are.
every single one of us.
( blaireau69 , the Cumbrian Travis Bickle., Fri 9 Oct 2009, 0:19, Reply)

it certainly can be unhealthy to replace reality with virtual.
i wonder just how many of the tens of thousands of b3tans actually know each other?
i'm not sure that an anonymous forum is any more or less effective. the trust that grows in a psych group is a different kind of trust than that which can develope online, surely?
( blaireau69 , the Cumbrian Travis Bickle., Fri 9 Oct 2009, 0:16, Reply)

the "teacher in the room" assumption is simply that. an assumption and an erroneous one to boot.
in participating in group psychotherapy the individuals involved need to open up fully to reap the full benefit. some can do this, some cannot. for some people other forms of therapy are more appropriate. those who engage fully very quickly cease to perceive the supervisor as the "teacher in the room", i have observed. the group becomes a place where the troubles can be taken, where the deepest aspects can be discussed and wisdom shared.
this is not cod psychology. this is knowledge, experience and understanding.
i did see the thread in question.
( blaireau69 , the Cumbrian Travis Bickle., Fri 9 Oct 2009, 0:11, Reply)

But surely if you've been through it....
... you'll know it's not just sharing, it's sharing AND human contact at the same time, and this place doesn't provide full human contact.

It's easy to say everything on here, it's a lot harder to do it in a room full of people. Eventually, you'll become a social recluse if you do that sort of thing here.
( G/PP 💩💩💩💩💩&#128, Fri 9 Oct 2009, 0:13, Reply)