Suicide & the TOS

[danieLion]

The TOS (clause 4) implies the arrogant presumption that "professionals" know better than the rest of us.

For instance, Clause 4 road-blocks any possible fruitful discussion of the suicide "problem" in the Pali textual tradition, and devolves to politically correct censorship.

The medical profession and the ensuing medical-industrial-complex it's created are recent historical advents, and relfective not of scientific knowledge but a trade bent on professionalizing itslelf to gain and maintain its dominating status through a propoganda campaign inovling the disingenuine pursuit of its own scientification.

"Professional" is merely a label, and in essence means, "I make money at it." Medical professionals are professional by this narrow defintion, but any expansion of the definition does not legitimize the OPINION MONOPOLY of the medical-industrial-complex. True legitemacy comes from those who doctors serve, not their "professional" peers.

If we were to take the TOS Clause 4 seriously, we'd have to delete any mention of the Four Noble Truths here as they are premised on a medical model and could easly be construed as medical advice.

We should also delete any comment of the form, "I take x drug for y problem" as that implies advice also.

[cooran]

Hello Daniel, and all,

4. Members who are suffering from mental illnesses.

Dhamma Wheel is for the exploration and discussion of the Dhamma. While the aim of the Dhamma is to provide a path to the end of suffering, members of Dhamma Wheel are not qualified to deal with acute episodes of mental illness of another, as expressed on a discussion forum. The Administrators and Moderators of Dhamma Wheel request your compliance with regards to the following guidelines which is designed for the benefit of all:

-- Members who are suffering a serious mental illness should seek diagnosis and treatment from a qualified medical professional within their community. Members who are suffering from an acute phase of a mental illness, including intention to self harm and/or suicidal should seek immediate assistance. http://www.befrienders.org/index.asp
-- Members who are experiencing an acute phase of mental illness or suicidal ideation welcome to seek referral to medical and crisis services from administrators and moderators.
-- Members are asked not to use Dhamma Wheel as a platform to express intentions of self harm or suicide, the experience of voices or other hallucinations or other artefacts of acute mental illness.
-- When encountering a member suffering an acute episode of a mental illness, we should treat that member with compassion and refer that member to medical/emergency services within that person's community and to Dhamma Wheel staff.
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=2

Any person who is not happy with the TOS is entitled to leave DhammaWheel, maybe start their own List, or join another more to their liking.

with metta
Chris

[Ben]

Dear Daniel,

Thank you for sharing your point of view.
In any discussions with David and the mod team, I will not be advocating a change to clause four of the TOS.
As I have mentioned before, the welfare of others will always take priority over discussion.
kind regards,

Ben

[mikenz66]

Hi Daniel,

This has nothing to do with censorship of ideas. That section of the TOS is about specific advice to people with serious problems. Members can, and do, debate the pros and cons of various treatment approaches to a variety of ailments and approaches to physical and mental health.

However we can not allow specific advice to individuals suffering acute symptoms, such as:

"Stop taking that medication you are taking."
"This medication/other treatment will solve your problem."

Mike