Rules and guidelines

[Altostrata]

This is a site for peer support, documentation, and education regarding withdrawal and withdrawal syndrome caused by psychiatric drugs, specifically antidepressants.

 

Withdrawal syndrome may occur after you stop taking a psychiatric medication and can last weeks, months, or years. While some people may be able to quickly stop taking these medications without serious symptoms, severe withdrawal syndrome can happen to anyone.

 

Tapering off the medication is the only known way to reduce the risk of withdrawal syndrome.

 

Don't risk the integrity of your nervous system -- if not in an emergency, do not suddenly stop taking any psychiatric medication.

 

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Completion of your registration for SurvivingAntidepressants.org means you understand and agree to the following:

 

This site does not provide medical advice. For medical advice, see a trusted medical caregiver. Information presented here is intended for discussion with your doctor.

 

 

Rules and guidelines for Surviving Antidepressants

 

-  Because of the sensitive nature of the discussions, members are encouraged protect their identities with pseudonyms.

 

- Each member must decide how much personal information to reveal in public postings. Generally, posts and accounts are not deleted.

 

-  You will respect the privacy of each member.

 

-  The first 2 posts of new members will be approved by moderators before being published. This is to make sure the initial posts of new members get responses from moderators.

 

-  A posting expresses the views of the author of the message, not necessarily the views of this site. We do not vouch for or warrant the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any posting, and are not responsible for the contents of any posting.

 

-  You may not re-post the words of any member on other sites without that person's express permission.

 

-  A member who finds a posting objectionable is encouraged to contact the administrator through the site private messaging system.

 

- We will remove objectionable posts at our discretion. If you continue with objectionable behavior after warning by an administrator, your membership will be revoked. See What will get you warned or banned.

 

- You agree that you will not post any material which is knowingly false and/or defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, obscene, profane, sexually oriented, threatening, invasive of a person's privacy, or otherwise violative of any law, on this site.

 

- Copyrighted material may be quoted in part or excerpted under the Fair Use exception of 17 USC Section 107. Posting of copyrighted material is the sole responsibility of the poster and not this site. Should a complaint be made by the owner about the unauthorized posting of copyrighted material, the site administrators will remove it.

 

- Posting of advertising or commercial solicitations is barred.

 

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Updates, discussion, and questions regarding Rules and Guidelines are posted in the Read This First forum.

 

This site is not affiliated with any religious, medical, or pharmaceutical organization or company. It does not receive any funding or support from outside sources other than contributions from members. Staffing is entirely volunteer.

 

 

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You will see this notice prior to registration:

 

If you decide to go off your drugs, you must take the responsibility of coping with any distressing symptoms that may arise, including those patterns of thinking the drugs were intended to remedy.
 
We intend to provide a safe atmosphere for everyone. This site does not offer psychiatric care or psychotherapeutic care. If you need intensive attention, we urge you to also seek face-to-face therapeutic support in your life off-line, from mental health professionals, communities of faith, or other groups.

 
As this is only a forum site, we cannot deal with emergencies of any type. If you have persistent thoughts of suicide, please contact the suicide hotline near you rather than posting them on this site.
 
Completing this registration signifies your agreement to the above and to the Rules and Guidelines.

Edited December 31, 2018 by Altostrata
updated

[Altostrata]

To assist the finding of information:

 

- Topics may be moved to more appropriate categories.

 

- Redundant topics may be combined. Tip: Use search first before starting a topic that may have been covered before, such as a question about a supplement.

 

- Posts may be moved from one topic to another.

 

Thank you!

[Altostrata]

When you've made your 10th post, your member title will change from Getting Started to Member.

 

As you increase your posting:

 

Silver star 100 posts

Gold star 1000

Platinum star 2000

Fingers of titanium 5000

Edited November 13, 2015 by Altostrata
added star rankings

[UnfoldingSky]

What is the policy on talking about herbs/supplements? If you aren't pushing a specific brand?

 

I ask because I take something that has helped me, which I have only ever seen promoted by one other person (and never spoken of negatively) in spite of years of reading on other sites. I wanted to post something about it (it's a herb, and I take it as a very strong tea). Obviously I can't tell anyone to take it, but I know some other psych drug withdrawal sites don't like even the mention of herbs as it puts a suggestion out there that could be dangerous. If I write something without expressly telling anyone to take it, and with the caveat that people do their own research, is that permitted?

 

Can someone clarify for me? Thanks!

[Altostrata]

No problem. You may start a topic and post about your experience in the Symptoms and What Helps forum. If others know about the tea, they may add to the topic.

 

Be aware -- many people are hypersensitive to different things and may not have a good experience with something you've found to be helpful.

[Altostrata]

About screen name changes

 

When you register, please choose a screen name that protects your identity. Unless you want family and friends to recognize your posts, do not tell them your screen name on SurvivingAntidepressants.org.

 

We minimize the changing of screen names

- To save work for the administrators (particularly me).

- To maintain a stable community, where people get to know you by your screen name and may be confused if it changes.

 

We will change screen names only for privacy reasons:

- If your screen name can be easily found in Google and tied to your real name. (This applies mostly to people who have used their surnames or family names as screen names.)

- If your screen name is the same as the one you use on social media.

 

Use of a first name as a screen name usually does not qualify as a privacy concern. A first name would have to be so unique it could be found quickly in Google AND related to your real name.

 

For example, there are many, many people in the world named Sandeep. If your real name and screen name are Sandeep, it's unlikely anyone who knows you would be able to find your posts on SurvivingAntidepressants.org via Google and attribute them to who you are in real life.

 

How to request a screen name change

Please respect my time and that of the other administrators: Do not request a screen name change unless you have a good privacy-based reason for the request.

 

We will not make screen name changes simply because someone decides he or she wants a new name.

 

Send a personal message to me or another administrator with this information:

• Your privacy-based reason for changing your screen name
• Your new screen name -- check the Members list to make sure the screen name is not already being used

Screen name changes will be made only once.

Edited June 15, 2015 by Altostrata
updated

[Altostrata]

About the privacy of personal messages

 

Administrators and moderators do not read personal messages of other members unless the messages are addressed to them.

 

The forum software does not permit this, and I have no plans to install any add-ons that will enable viewing of personal messages.

 

According to the provider of the forum software:

 

We generally take the view that messages should be between users unless reported, so we haven't provided a viewing tool in the Admininstrator Control Panel. That said, we don't refer to them as 'private messages' because they aren't. There's three options for seeing them:

• Users can report posts in a PM, which alerts staff via the Moderator Control Panel to the post in question
• Users can invite staff into the PM in which case the full conversation is available to them
• An administrator can browse through the database.

 

The last option -- browsing the database -- takes special technical skills that we would never employ for this purpose.

 

All the moderators and administrators here have signed a promise of confidentiality. If any is indiscreet or misuses personal information of our members, that person would find him- or herself without permissions right away, and probably banned.

 

NOTE There is one more way I might be able to read a personal message:

 

You may have set up your account so you get e-mail alerts when you have a new personal message. If you reply to this e-mail  instead of going to the site to read your personal messages, the reply gets sent to the SurvivingAntidepressants.org e-mail address. Embedded in the text is the personal message.

 

I would rather not get these messages. If you reply to an e-mail alert you will get this automated response:

 

This is Altostrata. When you reply to an e-mail alert, the mail comes to me.

To reply to your personal messages, please log in to SurvivingAntidepressants.org and click on the little envelope icon next to your name in the upper right of every page. You will see your personal messages.

Please do NOT reply to your e-mail alerts.

Thank you,

Altostrata

 

[buggedout]

Is there a way to have more than 12 lines in a signature? Certain # of posts etc.?

[Altostrata]

No. The number of lines in a signature is limited because people were taking up pages with their signatures. This makes reading a thread difficult.

[Altostrata]

Please note we often give information that quite detailed, including calculations that some may find difficult.

 

We try to give full information so you know what you might be attempting. There may be warnings and cautions included. Please pay attention to these.

 

Because the information is important to your safety, for any of our topics in the Tapering or Symptoms forum, it's your responsibility to read the first posts in the topic, where essential information is given, before the community starts commenting.

 

If you post a question that has been covered early in the topic, you may be reminded by the staff to do so.

 

Please be considerate of staff time and read the beginning of a topic in the Symptoms and Tapering forums.

[EKS04]

Thank you for your time and consideration 

[Iatrogenesis]

Would you consider making this non-mandatory:

 

REQUIRED Enter nearest town, state or region, and country so others who live nearby can find you.

 

This is a site where people post sensitive info, after all... At least not the nearest town... I see people don't give this info anyway and nobody cares, but I felt like I was being pressured to give my exact location when I didn't want to because of the nature of this site so I made something up and now I feel bad about it...

 

 

 

[Altostrata]

Interesting point. Thank you.

[theskul]

I have an online friend who is too much in agony to make an account here. What, if any, is the appropriate way for me to help him? Can I help him through this site?

[Gridley]

18 hours ago, theskul said:

I have an online friend who is too much in agony to make an account here. What, if any, is the appropriate way for me to help him? Can I help him through this site?

 

Though we prefer to work directly with the person, we have in the past worked through another person.  You would need to open a new account with a new username and write an introduction explaining the situation.

[Altostrata]

About sending personal messages to staff

 

Administrators and staff get dozens of personal messages every day, most of them belonging in peoples' Introductions topic. Please help us save our volunteer staff's time and effort by posting in the community forum rather than sending personal messages to the staff.

 

If you have questions about tapering or coping with withdrawal symptoms, please post the question in your Introductions topic or other appropriate topic in the Tapering forum, Symptoms and Self-Care forum. or other section of the site.

 

Please do NOT send such questions in personal messages to administrators or staff.

 

When you ask questions in your Introductions topic, all the staff can see them and the answers to them. This helps us understand what you've already been told and avoid duplicate effort or confusion. The series of posts in your Introductions topic is a history of your case that may be valuable in the future.

 

The staff monitors new posts in the Introductions forum daily. Also, when you post a question where the community can see it, other members may be able to answer your question faster than a staff person.

 

If you send such a question in a personal message to a staff member, you can expect the staff member to ask you to post it in your own Introductions topic or in the community forum for an answer.

 

 

[nikkicaw]

I understand 

[Mark840]

Hi, could I clarify the below means I cannot delete my account in future (general sense)?

 

- Each member must decide how much personal information to reveal in public postings. Generally, posts and accounts are not deleted.

 

 

[ChessieCat]

@Mark840

 

Welcome to SA,

 

Please see this topic for more information:

 

if-you-wish-to-close-or-delete-your-account

 

Also see:

 

 

 

Edited January 30, 2022 by ChessieCat