Where do people with mental disorders socialise?

@justanotherguy I moved away to live in London for a while before i fell ill and was hospitalised, so i had to come back to Adelaide. By that time my friends in Adelaide had moved away too. Lost contact with my friends from overseas too. A shame since I had friends i really liked.

Anyway, if I could find a girlfriend sometime that would be nice. 😍

I'll ask Santa for one i guess 🤔 (Joking of course)

I think a girlfriend is the best friend you can have in life. Plus the potential to have children is there too. Can make friends whenever, but can't always have the opportunity for children.

Essentially i am focusing my ideas on potentially unemployed or people with mental illness. Is that the wrong approach? if so, i wouldn't mind dating a few super models, actresses, doctors, or even just someone with a job. However I find it's hard enough to find someone unemployed... does that mean i should just get a job? the last time i tried i finished a disability and aged care course work, before I fell delusional and was hospitalised again just before my placement. Ended up never completing placement for various reasons. I think they say stress can be a trigger for schizophrenia.

I suppose making new friends can more easily be chanced upon while doing some activity like volunteering, a TAFE course, a group like Grow, game group, or even an art class... just need to get out more i guess and suggestions would be appreciated. I'm sure i'm not the only one struggling with joining groups/finding friends etc.

Equally I only recently changed medicine from one that had me twitching, couldn't sit still, and pacing around all the time where i walked up to 6 hours a day and still put on weight. Now i'm on a medicine that for the most part just makes me put on weight. The last 5 years have kind of just blurred past, while i tried to rehabilitate myself in different aspects that i don't feel like going into at the moment. So yeah, I didn't get out much and now feel like attempting something again. 😋

@Adelaidean ,

My life started out ok but a small issue turned my life upside down and now only starting to get it together. It's like one problem snowballed into bigger and bigger problems. If you really want to know you can look in my profile!

I was labelled schizophrenia but it's more autism really. A lot of MH seem to have similar responses to stress. The stress and abuse were so much my autism outbursts looked like pychosis, some were very intense. I know it's not psychosis as I was lucid the whole time, and still logical and coherant. I can remember 99% of what's happened quite clearly. Nearly everything I was told was wrong, I feel my life has been a bad Netflix drama.

I know there are women out there that might be interested in you, you could try and set up a date. I still hit on random girls sometimes just to try but it's hard, history counts for a lot and decent girls generally know what's going on.

@Adelaidean Im 35, have schizophrenia and since the illness make barely the friends I used to. Used to means school times.

I’ve worked 15 years but don’t really have much to show ie network. After a recent med change my eyes looked crazy and copped it from nearly every second person while I accepted my diagnosis. Before I was medicated but didn’t believe I had the illness. Lol

hope you find what you are looking for, cause I’m still looking too

@AdelaideanI tried a grow meeting since I last posted.

Overall, thumbs up. In terms of making new social contacts and socialising, that seems to be encouraged as part of the functioning of the group. The meeting was mostly sharing of experiences. There is an expectation of confidentiality - what's said in the group, stays in the group. In terms of dogma/ritual/protocol, there's 5 statements said of which 3 are said if you're new. There's some readings, everyone took a turn. There can be challenges issued by group members to another member to encourage them to grow in some way that they've expressed within the group. The 12 steps were read out as well, there was an option to substitute truth for god/higher power.

hi I have also been diagnosed with schizophrenia, and currently under treatment authority, are you also under treatment authority???