"So why would the 1,000 CDers who attend support groups and who agreed to take the survey be different from anyone else?"
Reine,
I have to ask how you can justify that they would they be representative of "all" the other CD's out there? Even the study authors said that their study was not and could not be representative of the total population, meaning that it was the results of a small niche part of the whole voicing their opinions. I agree that what study had for participants may very well be similar to what we have on this site. Here we have over 40,000 member with only a fraction active at any one time, plus a lot of guests regularly reading what they can here. Those that participate regularly an even smaller part of the active members at least have that courage to open their mouths, actually use their fingers typing, to ask for help or voice their opinions. What about all the rest? No, this study does not represent the real world, only a part of it. Extrapolation to form definitive statements about all of us is not possible from that study, as acknowledged by the authors. It gives possible explanations but far from definitive ones.
