The most recent discussion is never the only discussion being had on this site. If you’re new to DefineFunctioning, here’s a little tour of what you’ll find and where you’ll find it. Remember that DF is still in its Baby Beta Stage, so any and all suggestions (for organization and content) are welcome.
Most posts are presented as discussion topics and conversation starters and conclude with some questions or a discussion prompt. Many of these are organized into recurring features.
The Ten Most Recent Discussion Questions
- What do you want people to know? (2011.05.05)
- Are there times you can’t remember? (2011.05.12)
- A set of questions on making ends meet starting with How Do You Function Financially? (2011.05.20)
- The questions I’d like to post now surround moments of crisis. How do you deal? What are your go-to coping mechanisms? To what extent do you rely on your medical care providers? To what extent do you rely on your personal support systems? To what extent do you feel able to rely on yourself? Is there a difference between general life crises and mental health-related crises? What might that difference be? Does that difference affect how you cope? Also included in this discussion: How do you take care of yourself, especially when you can see the future closing in on you with triggers galore? Do you take care of yourself? How often do you take care of yourself? Do you put it off? Do you just take care of yourself short-term or do you make moves to do it long-term (like exercising regularly)? (2011.07.21)
- Have doctors forgotten the need for establishing trust with their patients in order to further treatment? Have they deluded themselves into thinking that psychiatry and psychiatrists hold any authority greater than that which their patients give them through that developed trust? Have they forgotten that the healthy development of self-worth is necessary for the treatment of so many mental health disorders and that such unabashed condescension does nothing but erode whatever self-worth is left? Do they fail to realize that this sort of unprofessional behavior only underpins, reinforces, and perpetuates the dehumanizing stigma that continues to keep people from treatment, that it only contributes to the shame-spiral so many suffer? Lastly, what is an empowered patient to do when no one acknowledges his/her empowerment? (2011.07.22)
- What’s your routine? To what extent do you think deviating from that routine may bring about triggers? How proactive are you in maintaining your routine, or how flexible are you able to be with it? Do you feel limited by your routine? Do you ever wonder if the perceived need for reliable stability may be hiding new options and alternatives? (2011.08.13)
- To whom, when, and how do you come clean? What is it you hope for when you come clean? For whose benefit do we talk about our illnesses? And what do you personally gain from it? (2011.09.08)
- Does anyone have any tips or suggestions about how to motivate yourself when depressed or when you don’t feel like doing anything? (2011.09.09)
- How do you pay for your mental health care? If you are insured, do the technicalities of your insurance plan have an effect on your care? If you are uninsured, how do you manage? On top of all that, shall we start a discussion on mental health parity in general? (2011.09.24)
- How do you step back when you need to? Are you able to recognize if or when you need to? How do you explain needing to take some time away from your typical activities? Do you try to explain? What happens if you don’t step back when you need to? (2011.11.17)
Recurring Features
The BULLETIN BOARD is a place for forum participants to promote mental health events or postings.
COMMUNITY CONTRIBUTIONS are discussion topics that arise from suggestions by forum members. You can suggest a topic by writing it up and sending an email to DefineFunctioning [at] gmail [dot] com, by tweeting a thought or a link to @BackwardE, or by posting it to DefineFunctioning’s Facebook wall.
Discussion topics FROM THE COMMENTS are those that arise from the comments section of a previous post. Occasionally, something is said in the comments that is brought to the front of the discussion because of its profundity, insight, universality, or other superlatively thought-provoking qualities.
Posts that don’t fall into another category are usually labeled as GROUP topics. They are discussions and opportunities to share, vent, question, and generally talk.
GTD (Getting Things Done) posts evaluate, consider, propose, or discuss ways of getting things done. Currently, this category is seriously lacking in posts — mostly because ∃ has no idea what to offer. If you have some element of a regimen that works for you, let us know!
META posts are about the site itself (including changes, updates, and new features).
Occassionally a POLL will be posted as a general icebreaker.
Forum members can send in recent articles on mental health issues for immediate REACTION from the forum. These are quick and short posts that contain a link or two for discussion.
DefineFunctioning has something like a book club going. ∃’s current reading is always posted on the right sidebar and everyone is welcome to read along. As she reads, she writes READING RESPONSE posts as a way into discussing what we’re reading. They are not book reviews, but things the reading made her think. If you’re reading along and want to write a Reading Response, please do! Then send it to DefineFunctioning [at] gmail [dot] com. If you have a piece of reading to share with others, send it along as well.
Posts that include links to related reading are under the RESOURCE topic. It’s a general catch-all category with links to a variety of things.
SKELETONS is a rarely used topic. This category is specific to themes surrounding what we hide.
