Saturday, January 12, 2008
Hello all, I am new to this site. I am a mother of a schizophrenic 23 year old son. He was diagnosed when he was 16. It has been a long and some what fearful time, for the both of us. I love my son very much. He is stable now, but he is so very a lone. He has me, but has no friends and
Family lives so far away. He says to me. Mom if only my family were around I will be better, and he would like to find a female friend. He is a very nice looking young man, and my heart breaks for him. This has taken his young life away. I know there are many families going throw the same thing as my son. Does my son have a chance for a loving relationship, and a normal life.
Hello candie,
A while back I interviewed Jim, the founder and webmaster of No Longer Lonely: www.nolongerlonely.com. It is a dating and friendship service, worldwide, for people living with mental illnesses.
Like with all online meeting places, you have to maintain your wits and be careful what you reveal at first blush.
However, it's a good start and definitely your son can find love and friendship and acceptance.
He will need to get out of the house and risk rejection.
The thing to remember is, he will be doing the rejection, too. When I moved into my own apartment, after leaving the halfway house, my counselor told me, when I feared being rejected, "You will be doing the rejection, too."
I suggest he start with No Longer Lonely, at his comfort level, and branch out from there.
Regards,
Chris
I'm on nolongerlonely.com and it's a great place for the mentally ill to start pen-pals so that they could socialize and possible talk about their diagnosis and what meds work for them etc.
However, it's really great when you get to meet up with somone in your area. I wouldn't divulge where you work, but you'd be surprised how many people are open with their diagnosis - finally, I'm able to talk to someone without fear of the stigma found on ALL the other dating sites.
PlentyOfFish.com has a forum that lists threads; just type in biplor and see the anger, fear, and persecution the mentally ill get on that site. : (
The problem is there are only 14,000 people on NoLongerLonely.com compared with the 10 mil at pof.com
good luck and hang in there
Mike