Quote Originally Posted by MyNameIsTerry View Post
Here's a scenario.

Someone with anxiety goes to a walk in group as they are desperate for help. After intros, rule setting, announcements, etc it comes to the open floor part and the coordinator asks if anyone would like to talk about their fears. The new person says yes and starts to talk about what they are struggling with. It's rabies. The rest of the attendees start rolling their eyes, groaning and displaying signs of frustration. The person feels uncomfortable talking, maybe they stop. The session ends.

Does the person leave thinking what a great group of helpful, understanding, non judgemental people they have met and feel comfortable in returning? Or does the person leave thinking what an intolerant, ignorant group of people and maybe doesn't feel comfortable returning to seek support?

Now interchange rabies with brain tumours, cancers, etc. It's no different when it's about frustration due to repetitive themes across sessions.

That's something I'm seeing on these rabies threads. Plenty of good advice too but the frustration is showing. Anyone new might be put off NMP if this is their first thread.

It's hardly new, it's been the same with other diseases. It feels like someone posts for help but also receives some of the baggage of previous threads.

In the group session you may not feel able to leave if frustrated. Clicking the little x on a screen is easy enough though.
As someone getting over a rabies fear, I agree with this sentiment. The whole point (I assumed) of an anxiety forum was to post what your symptoms of anxiety were to get support from others who have been through something similar. When I posted my story, I was reasonably sure that my fears were overblown and that I was suffering from anxiety (or else I would have posted on patient.info or some other non-anxiety medical forum). I realize the chances of getting rabies is very small to infinitesimal without a recognized animal bite. People not in the US should be aware, though, that our media and CDC government agency actively put out overblown statements warning about undetected bites and getting bitten in your sleep. If you are already inclined to anxiety, reading some of the stuff online can easily send your anxiety into a tailspin. Posting here for support and being told "that's an absurd fear and you're an idiot for worrying about it" may be technically correct but not exactly helpful.