Have we decided to adopt 'requires professional help' as a new, custom close reason, and how should the close message be worded?

Question

We have been getting a small but significant number of questions where one or more of the people in the stated situation need professional help. The IPS.SE community apparently had come to a consensus on an earlier meta question that such questions should be closed as being beyond the scope of this site.

Note: This was clarified by @Catija's comment under an answer to @Tinkeringbell's later question referenced here, which I quote:

This question isn't asking whether we should close them or not... that question is here. We have, as a site, already decided that these questions should be closed. If you'd like to add to that conversation by voicing your opinions on that question, please do so but as of right now, we've already decided they're off topic. This is asking whether we should use one of our custom close reasons for it. – Catija♦ Oct 3 at 22:23

So @Tinkeringbell asked this most pertinent meta question:

Should we get a custom close reason for 'needs professional help'?

After some discussion and a few answers (including mine, supporting OP's proposal, assuming that OP was actually asking for this custom close reason) this question seems to have become dormant without leading to a particular conclusion.

13 upvoters have agreed with OP so far and none voted against yet.

I am certain that we need that custom close reason. 'Off topic' is not specific enough because such questions are not so obviously off-topic and many people have posted meta questions asking why the question was closed as off topic. Protracted debates have resulted in some cases and wasted the energy of multiple users. So our custom close reason needs to spell it out that we are closing the Q because professional help is required, which is beyond the scope of this website.

So what should be the exact wording of that close reason?

This was my suggestion on the earlier question:

The problem described in this question needs professional help which is beyond the scope of this website. Kindly contact the appropriate professionals for help in your local area.

Please discuss this wording, vote on it and suggest improvements.

I would also like to know what is the site decision on the matter in question and what action can we expect in terms of getting the 'needs professional help' custom close reason?

Answer 1

This answer follows guidance from Robert (that applied to a different category of close-worthy questions). I personally feel that style takes too long to get to the point of what's wrong with this question, but I think the style of that answer's proposal is otherwise good. So here's a variation on it that tries to keep the soft, helpful tone with fewer words:

Needs more assistance than we can provide — this question goes beyond the tools we use to interact with other people on a day-to-day basis and requires the assistance of licensed professionals (therapists, physicians, lawyers, etc). For more information, please see our [meta post].

The to-be-written meta post can explain in more detail and point to other resources.

This briefer style has been in use for years on two sites I moderate, and so far I haven't seen much friction. For reference, those close reasons are:

Mi Yodeya:

Questions asking for a practical ruling (p'sak halacha) are off-topic. For practical advice consult your rabbi. Try to broaden the question so it applies to a wider audience, such as by asking what sources are applicable to the question. (More information.)

The Workplace:

Questions seeking advice on company-specific regulations, agreements, or policies should be directed to your manager or HR department. Questions that address only a specific company or position are of limited use to future visitors. Questions seeking legal advice should be directed to legal professionals. For more information, click here.

On Mi Yodeya the question can sometimes be rephrased, hence the guidance there. On The Workplace, questions with this close reason usually can't be made on-topic, so we direct the user to other resources. It sounds like IPS's situation is closer to The Workplace's than to Mi Yodeya's.

Answer 2

If we're trying to base our close reason on the recommendation of Robert, let's look at his examples:

If this is going to happen, it will take a bit of study for me to write it up. It's a delicate balance between brevity and making a clear, strong point. The idea is to (1) start with an affirmative statement about what the site is about so it becomes all but self-evident when the close description (2) describes where their problem statement went wrong in the context of that site. Optionally, (3) it should give them to an action item. See some recent examples here and here.

On Ask Patents:

"Production and Technology Questions Are Off Topic — Ask Patents is a community-run website to ask about the patent process or to help find Prior Art on US Patents or Applications. Unfortunately, questions about the underlying technology or production of products covered by these patents are outside the scope of this site. Sorry about the confusion." – Robert Cartaino

On Lifehacks:

"Does not seem to need a life hack — A "life hack" is a seemingly intractable problem that can be solved by thinking outside the box. Unfortunately, everyday "How to…" questions about learning a craft or new skill are outside the scope of this site. See about Lifehacks. If the author can show how this needs an "outside the box" solution, edit and 'flag' to reopen."

So, based on this, we should be writing something like:

Needs more assistance than we can provide — Interpersonal skills are the tools we use to interact with other people on a day-to-day basis. Sometimes these interactions are affected by issues that require the assistance of licensed professionals (therapists, physicians, lawyers, etc) and questions that indicate this need are outside the scope of this site. (Optional) For more information, please see our [meta post].

This still needs some work. It's a bit wordy but it coveys what I think we're trying to tell people.

I think that there are two things that we absolutely must have in conjunction with this close reason:

1. A comprehensive FAQ here on Meta that explains when it is appropriate to use the close reason at all.
   I think that many questions that involve mental health or legal concerns are completely within our scope. We need guidance to teach people when this close reason should be used.
2. A post that is to be used for helpful resources for each of these issues.
   This may require some periodic maintenance but I find that closing someone's question in these situations without giving them some guidance on where they can get help does a disservice.

Answer 3

Yes, we need a custom close-reason to close questions that require professional help.

I've done a quick investigation: On the 12th of October 2017, out of 107 questions that are currently closed/on-hold, at least 12 are closed and have comments to the general core of 'this is something where the OP would benefit of professional help'.

10 of these are closed for 'needing help from a mental health professional'

• Childhood Parental Influence on my self esteem
• How to handle someone that easily spins out of control emotionally
• How to help someone who threatens self-harm over the internet?
• How do I deal with frequent demands for attention?
• Answering suicidal thoughts online
• Abused by my maternal uncle
• What to do if I/Someone I know is feeling depressed/suicidal?
• I build walls towards everyone, everything and want to overcome

These were closed as 'needing help from a mental health professional' but their closure is discussed here on meta since a professional is already involved:

• How to help my girlfriend get her confidence back?
• How to help my girlfriend with her lack of self-confidence?

This one is closed as 'needing help from a medical professional'

• How to stop a friendship from blossoming into a romance?

And for this one (since deleted), getting legal advice was mentioned in the comments:

• How do I talk about sensitive issue and financial issue with husband?

So, I feel safe concluding that IPS is a site that attracts a substantial amount of questions that are better off with some professional help, and should thus be closed.

---

Now, on to what such a close reason should state. There were some attempts in my original question, but those weren't really very fit. I think we must be careful here, to find a balance between saying 'we're not fit to help you' and don't sounding like 'we don't want to help you'.

This comment by RobertCartaino also gives some nice guidance on what a custom close-reason should entail:

@Tinkeringbell If this is going to happen, it will take a bit of study for me to write it up. It's a delicate balance between brevity and making a clear, strong point. The idea is to (1) start with an affirmative statement about what the site is about so it becomes all but self-evident when the close description (2) describes where their problem statement went wrong in the context of that site. Optionally, (3) it should give them to an action item. See some recent examples here and here. – Robert Cartaino♦ yesterday

So, keeping that in mind, I've made the following message:

This situation requires professional help, not an interpersonal skills solution - An interpersonal skill is the ability to interact/communicate well with other people. This is something that you should take to a professional (be that a psychologist, doctor or lawyer). We are unfit to help you fix, cure or treat something that is a (or is a consequence of a) medical/legal problem. See <-link to source/post with guidance-> for guidance on writing questions fit for IPS.SE.

As Catija rightly points out in the comments, we need a link to some guidance on how to write good IPS questions. I'm suggesting that we make such a page, like this on lifehacks, so that we can have an action item/link to guidance in our close-message as well.

Initially, such a post needs only mention the points that we've all agreed on here on meta. If we think anything should be added, we can discuss it in another meta post. If we think things should be removed, make another meta post to discuss it. This should prevent edit-wars on that post.

Answer 4

My suggestion:

Interpersonal Skills is a community-run website where you can ask questions about addressing and handling situations between individuals. Questions involving the behavior of a person or persons that appear to involve specific mental health issues are off-topic. If you are concerned about an actual or potential medical or mental health issue, please seek the advice of a health care professional.

italics above - this is just my rough filler text. The actual scope/mission of IPS should be inserted here, but that is another topic.

I chose "mental health issues" because these seem to involve the majority of questions where professional assistance is advisable. Of course other areas of professional expertise could be handled similarly.

I would like to add the comment from @English Student because it adds a point written better than I could -

"This wording would make all questions in the autism and Asperger's tags off-topic..." __ not necessarily @apaul: I specifically looked at the definitions and found both autism and Asperger's being primarily described as 'neurodevelopmental' disorders (a different way of processing information, is a layperson's way of saying) which are not 'mental health issues' in the same way as schizophrenia, neurosis and depression.

However, in the final analysis we are not health care professionals, so we just need to use our best judgment in determining on a case by case basis if professional help seems to be advisable (by flagging, close voting or moderator intervention).
It is important that general guidance for users is defined in the Help Center, where we can better clarify what is considered on or off topic.

I would keep in mind that the kinds of questions where these issues come up are often very individualized (involving specific individuals and situations as opposed to asking about how to manage some situation in general).

As a side note, questions sometimes lack sufficient specific information (such as describing an individual using generalized terms like depression or anxiety) needed to write a qualified answer. Answers should not guess at what the OP is asking, so in the absence of sufficient information a question should be closed using "unclear what you are asking" or "needs more information" reasons.