The Schizophrenia.com Discussion and Chat areas are friendly areas for you to meet other people who have been impacted by schizophrenia (people who have schizophrenia, as well as family members, husband/wifes, etc.).

The discussion and chat areas are designed as on-line support groups for anyone who wants to share their knowlege and experiences and learn more about schizophrenia and related issues.

With over 22,000 registered and active users of these discussion areas you can be sure you'll meet other people dealing with many of the same problems and issues that you are. Many of the members here have ideas or experiences on what treatments or approaches work better than others. We encourage you to join in and share and learn from each other. It operates as an on-line bulletin board where you post your message any time of the day or week, and during the day other people will read and post responses to your message. Then you can visit here again later (usually a few days later) and read and post more messages.

To allow the discussion area software to work properly you must register as a member (and accept the software "cookie" that allows it to show you only the new messages when you sign on each time). The information you provide (name, etc.) does not have to be your real name - in fact for anonymity and freedom to discuss sensitive issues we encourage you to use a name you've made up.

If you choose not to register you can still read the messages (but not post your own messages) and the software puts the oldest messages at the top of the screen and you'll need to click on the "bottom" link (after you've chosen a given area of discussion) to read the most current messages.

You can always go by an change the personal information you've entered when you register, by going to the "More" and "My profile" - once you're logged into the discussions. Be sure to save any changes you make before you leave that page.

Before you begin posting messages, we encourage you to use the "Search" feature in the discussion areas. These discussion areas have been operating for many years now and with over 500,000 messages already in the database there is sure to be discussions that took place in the past on any subject of interest to you. So as not to constantly repeat questions - we recommend that you read older conversations on a topic of interest to you, then post your own new questions.

Chat Rooms

Chat rooms are incorporated into each of the discussion areas - so to get to the chat rooms you must first log into the discussion area of your choice - and then click on the "CHAT" button on the upper menu bar of the discussion area window.

The most active Chat room is in the "MAIN Discussion Area" - and there are usually 10 or 20 people there all day, and night - though some people may just be logged on and not actively using the chat room. Most of the people in this chat room are people who have schizophrenia.

The Parent's discussion area also has regular chats - but they are usually only once every week or so, and are usually announced and organized in the discussion area. So - check the messges often, or post a message if you're interested in being involved with a chat and I'm sure someone whill respond.

To enter the different discussion areas - just go to the home page of www.schizophrenia.com - and click on the discussion area link that you think is most appropriate for you. They include:

Main Discussion Area - for anyone interested in schizophrenia - a common place to share information about medications, news, social issues, etc.

People Diagnosed - an area for people diagnosed with schizophrenia or think they may have schizophrenia.

Parents - an area for parents of people with schizophrenia

Brothers/Sisters - an area for brothers and sisters of people with schizophrenia to share challenges and find solutions to help their families, their siblings and themselves.

Offspring - an area for sons and daughters of people with schizophrenia to share challenges and find solutions to help their families, their parents and themselves.

Childhood-Onset Schizophrenia - an area for parents of younger children (under the age of 13) who may have schizophrenia.

We also have a number of country-specific areas for people to talk with other people from the same country. These areas are quite new and still don't have the volume of users that the above discussion areas have - so we encourage everyone to participate in the main discussion areas above as well as any country-specific discussion areas that is also of interest.

Thank you.