Our Philosophy

Panic Survivor will NEVER charge it's members. Panic Survivor has no commercial sponsors. Please read the article about supporting this site. Panic Survivor will NEVER harass you to donate.

We will try to provide information and education. This should NOT be a substitute for professional medical advice.

We promote a goal-focused approach to surviving anxiety, and we encourage our members to discuss their specific goals as well as their successes and failures.

Panic Survivor maintains an open mind toward the treatment choices of its members, and does not attempt to replace or replicate professional treatment. Panic survivor does NOT endorse or condemn any specific treatment choice.

Panic Survivor is run for the benefit of members, and not as a source of clients for a particular therapist or agency.

Confidentiality is protected and respected.

Panic Survivor maintains an "open door" policy which makes it easy for people to join or leave. We want you here, but we will not make you stay. We will encourage but never "hound" you to join.

Our Commitment to you.

We will always attempt to make visitors and members feel welcome.

We ask that all of our members treat all other members with respect. We will remove or ban members that don't treat you with respect.

We will always allow members to discuss their problems, the site will not get bogged down by focusing o­nly o­n o­ne or two members.

Panic Survivor will refrain from offering advice about medications (leaving that to the prescribing physician) and instead focus o­n what members can do for themselves, and improving their attitude.

Panic Survivor will attempt to provide current, reputable information about anxiety disorders from established sources.

Forum Rules

Please find below the rules with which this forum is moderated. These are the rules that moderators should adhere to, when doing their job. Of course, like several things in life, this is not final.  Changes may be made in the future. Any changes will be published here.

1. Be nice.

2. Posts that are inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, obscene, sexually oriented, threatening, rude, mean, nasty, invasive of a person's privacy, or otherwise in violation of any laws are not permitted.

3. Please limit the use of profanity in your postings. Occasional use of masked $@# profanity is acceptable.  If a post is considered vulgar by a moderator because of excessive profanity it will be removed.  This is a subjective decision of the moderator and the moderator’s decision will be final.

4. Advertisements, chain letters, pyramid schemes, SPAM, virus warnings and solicitations are not permitted. If you are a representative of a company making a product or offering a service being discussed in the forums, please feel free to participate in the discussion, as long as your response is solely designed to respond to a question about that product or service in the Panic Survivor forums. Do not post announcements about you or your company's products, treatment or other services, or otherwise use the Panic Survivor  forums to bring attention to your product, business or other service, in a manner that could be even loosely construed as promotion or advertising.  Do not post any dire Internet warnings including virus warnings or health hazards or safety concerns.

5. Posting of material to which you do not own the copyright is not permitted. This includes the posting of large portions of articles from this or any other o­nline or print publication, as well as posting large portions of posts from other forums or mailing lists (unless you are the author of the original post).

6. Make sure that your message topic fits the topic description of the forum. All the forums at Panic Survivor are for the discussion of anxiety and related disorders.  Be careful to observe “anxiety free topic areas”.

7. Don't participate in a thread merely to criticize or mock another forum member in the thread.  These types of posts are considered “flames” and will be removed without notice or discussion.

8. We encourage you to post messages to merely blow off steam or otherwise get something off your chest. Try your best to stay focused so someone can offer you advice.

9. Refrain from quoting the entire message that you're responding to, o­nly the pertinent passage.

10. Don't use all CAPS in postings.

11. Please keep signatures in the body of your posting to no more than two short lines, to ensure that the thread's content remains eminently readable. Do not include signatures that serve primarily to promote a product or service. Do not include photos, or large images.

12. Do not post questions or comments relating to the appropriateness of another member's post. Do not post questions or comments about the moderating of the Panic Survivor  forums. In all cases, please report forum activity that you believe contradicts these rules, or questions about the moderating of the forums, to the site administrator(s).


Moderator Rules

The moderators are the people who make sure that users are following the Forum Rules. They are here to help members and to protect members and the forum itself, from those few, who do not want to act as adults. Their job is not an easy o­ne, so I have to thank them all for offering to help run this site.

The rules below are established in order to make their life and members' life easier.

1. The moderator's role is to enforce the Forum Rules among the Forum members. This is an administrative task, not a law enforcement task and should be treated as such, both by the moderators and the members.

2. The moderator acts as a role model for the rest of the members. The moderator's behaviour has to set an example to how other members should behave in the forum.

3. The moderator does not have friends and enemies, all members should be treated the same by every moderator. A moderator should not allow his personal feelings to influence his judgement about the content of this forum, or the behaviour of the members. These are defined by the forum rules and the moderator's personal feelings have nothing to do with them.

4. The moderator has the right to edit or delete members threads or posts if he thinks that these are not according to the Forum Rules. He is not allowed to edit or delete a thread or a post simply because he does not agree with its content or the member who submitted it. Typically a thread or a post will be edited or deleted if it contains vulgar or foul language, nudity or comments which can be insulting for other members of the forum (flames), keeping in mind the international characteristics of the Internet.

5. A moderator has the right to move a thread to another forum if he thinks that this would be a more appropriate area for that thread. A relocation message should be left behind, so that people can follow up the thread.

6. A moderator does not have the right to ban a user from the forum. This will be done o­nly after consultation with the other moderators and the forum's administrator. However if a moderator suggests banning a user to the site admin you can rest assured that the suggestion will be taken very seriously.

7. When a moderator participates in a discussion, he should do it in accordance with rules (#2) and (#3) above. In no case, should a moderator use his administrative role as a weighting factor in such a discussion. When participating in a discussion, the moderator is treated as just any other member and is subjected to the same rules that apply for the members, o­nly he is judged more strictly since he has to set the example for the members.

8. Every member who has a specific and documented complaint about a moderator should directly discuss the problem with the moderator himself. If he is not satisfied with the outcome, the member can notify the forum's administrator, with his complaint, while concurrently cc-ing the particular moderator. I expect both members and moderators to act as responsible adults.

9. Moderators should always keep in mind that this forum is a place that people will come to discuss difficult subjects. They deserve the utmost respect, and that is what they should get. Their actions should be well justified and the member against whom they are taking actions, should be aware of the reasons which caused their actions. Under no circumstances should a moderator edit/remove a thread or post, without explaining his actions to the offending member.

10. If a moderator faces a severe problem with a member, and he is not sure how to handle it, it is best to bring the problem to the "Moderators o­nly forum" for discussion. Many of our procedures require this anyway. The same is true for the members of course, according to ( #8 ) above.

Practically speaking, if:

1. A moderator notices a new thread which is not in accordance with the forum rules: He moves the thread to a specified forum, where it remains for dispute reasons. That forum is accessible o­nly to moderators and admin. He also has to warn the member who posted the offended thread about his actions, either by e-mail or PM.

2. A moderator notices a post in an existing thread which is not in accordance with the forum rules. The post is edited or deleted and the reasons are stated where the post was in the thread.

3. A moderator notices a thread which does not fit in the forum it was posted. The thread is moved to the proper forum, leaving a redirection link in the original forum.

4. A moderator has a significant problem with o­ne member and wishes that this member be banned from the forum. He posts a message in the appropriate forum (Moderator's o­nly) explaining the reasons for which he wants the user banned. Other moderators provide their opinions. Decision is reached. If the member is banned a message is sent to the offending member explaining the reasons he/she was banned.