Attending Support Group

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I came across a support group meeting in my city via facebook group.
It is support group for people suffering from depression.

I am interested in attending it.
But in India women dont approach strangers

I feel vary of approaching strangers.
Also there is not much information on the facebook group

Only 10 people are attending this support group programme
And most of them are from the organisers side.
This is their 2nd meeting and i was not aware of the 1st meeting.

I will have to go alone
What information should i divulge about myself
How much information should be divulged
Or should i just listen to the conversation??

Will it be safe for me? Will it actually help me?
Anybody else attended such support group
What was the drawbacks or positive point of attending such a support group??

I'd say one-to-one help is generally more helpful, especially with something like depression where you probably want to maintain some privacy and need help tailored for your specific situation.

However the waiting lists for one-to-one help can be quite long, so that's where the group therapy tends to come in. I have never attended and wouldn't attend but that's just me.

But its difficult to find peer support for a person who is suffering from depression
I am isolated and i need supportive group or peer support which i dont get
so attending such a group and anticipating to get some peer support is what i am thinking about
there could be negative consequences which i want to be prepared for

I think it's probably best to initially let others do most of the talking to see what the group is like. If you are asked a question about your own situation, you might want to avoid mentioning the specifics of your depression. You had better prepare what you will say for such a question. If you feel comfortable enough with the group to attend it further, then you might do so and gradually tell a bit more about yourself. Still you wouldn't want to divulge too much to just random people because there can always be trouble makers in a group. It's good that you are aware that there could be negative consequences. Another thing I was thinking was that if it's not specifically for autistic people, then the people in the group might not be as tolerant of autistic traits that you might have as an autistic group would be. Any way, I hope that you will find that group helpful.

I am not diagnosed with asperger but its just i feel i might be having it.
Thanks for your advice i will be careful and keep a eye for trouble
Usually i end up talking too much about myself
Because i dont have anybody else to share my feelings with.
But i will guard myself and even i hope finally i will meet actual people and peer to help me out
rather then typing on computers all the while.

resist the urge to go fast, take your time, take small and measured steps forwards. get to know the rest of the group better so that you know where you stand with them, before volunteering much personal info. slow and steady wins the race. but you may just find other people there just like yourself.

ya i will not open up fast.

but the thing which intrudes me is that on facebook i saw the people who are attending the group

most of them are counsellors, some are part of NGO which is into assisting society,
Are they into some marketing strategy like they will say take help from us
we are set of counsellors etc.

The guy is not giving much information
I told him to put photos of previous meetup he said no photos

I asked for more info
but nothing coming forth

I find this all strange

And only 10 people RSVP out of which 3-4 are counsellors
remaining are organiser who are part of some NGO
and one is incharge of venue

Another guy asked for making contact like chatting before actually meeting
so the organiser said not possible

whats this all about ???

Just go along to the group and see if you like it

Be friendly to people and listen to them more than you talk about yourself

I wouldn't mention the Aspergers if they ask about why you've joined the group
just say you suffer from depression

Show an interest in the other people there by asking them questions about the
group eg how long have they been attending, what kind of activities the group does etc

If they say they ae a counsellor, say that mist be a very interesting job and ask them if they
are there to support people who attend or because they get depression themself

I attended a support group for people with mental health problems and found it useful as
I was able to make friends with several people

It helped me to get out the house more and get more used to mixing with people

thanks and good to know that you attended such a group and actually it helped

Paranoid as I am i will go about and just attend

And who knows if i will get some counsellors offering freebie services

Yes, it could be that the counsellors are there to help people or to learn more about the
problems that people with depression face

When I ran a support group for people on the autisic spectrum I had therapists and social workers
asking me if they could attend - this would be so they could learn more about the subject

Do you live in India?

Ok something like using us has a guinea pig for their experiments

yes i live in india

Your English is very good

I don't know about being used as guinea pigs lol but it's always good to make connections with professional people
as you never know when you might need to ask them for advice on something or if you can use their service

this is called networking

sounds too good to be true
i never came across professionals who offer free service
everything comes with a price
there is always strings attached

and networking never works in my favour

just my experience

I don't mean a free service, I mean they might be able to give useful information or advice if you ask them a
question at the group

the more you get to know a person, the more likely they will be to take an interest in your problems and offer help if you need it
- not all people but some will of you get friendly with them

ie they are a person to contact if you need to find something out or to pass on information you think they might
be interested in

We have free therapy services in the UK on the NHS (National Health Service)

I can't speak to the cultural issues you raise, sorry. Any thoughts I'd have there would doubtless be wrong.

I can speak to attending a support group, but only in USA terms. And one kind of depressing thing I've noticed from attending an ASD support group open to all adults is that -- unfortunately -- very few women attend them. Would you be okay with being the only woman there, assuming a similar metric applies in India as it does to my part of the USA (Massachusetts)? As in, I attended a group two weeks ago with roughly 25 adults. Two women, one the moderator. And I went to another a few days ago with about ten 10 people. One woman, and she was also the moderator.

Please note that I'm not trying to scare you off attending, I'm just commenting on what I've seen relative to what I'm seeing as your concerns. And also please note that I'm by no means happy to relate the above, but things are what they are, at least around here, whether I like it or not. I don't know enough about you, your situation, or realistically, your culture to say more than that.

Hope this helps.

That's an ASD support group though, where there's likely to be more men than women as men are more likely to be diagnosed than women and autism is also said to be more prevalent in males

Namaste is talking about a support group for people with depression, which in my opinion, females are more likely to admit to having and seek support for than males so there may well be more females there than males or an equal mix