Instigator / Pro
6
1510
rating
10
debates
65.0%
won
Topic
#4007

Mental Health services should be free

Status
Finished

The debate is finished. The distribution of the voting points and the winner are presented below.

Winner & statistics
Better arguments
3
3
Better sources
2
2
Better legibility
1
1
Better conduct
0
1

After 1 vote and with 1 point ahead, the winner is...

Intelligence_06
Parameters
Publication date
Last updated date
Type
Standard
Number of rounds
4
Time for argument
One week
Max argument characters
10,000
Voting period
Two weeks
Point system
Multiple criterions
Voting system
Open
Contender / Con
7
1737
rating
172
debates
73.26%
won
Description

STANCES:

Pro-Argues why mental health services should be free

Con-Argues why mental health services should not be free

DEFINITIONS:

Mental Health: noun
a person’s condition with regard to their psychological, emotional, and social well-being

Mental Illness: noun
a wide range of conditions that affect mood, thinking, and behavior

Burden of Proof is shared.

Round 1
Pro
#1
This will be an introduction to my argument:

Our mental health is one of the most important aspects of our well-being. While your physical health is also important, if your mental health isn't taken care of, then you will struggle to take care of the rest of your wellbeing. Many people within America alone struggle with maintaining a healthy mental wellbeing and often go untreated for any underlying issues. According to statistics, 1 in 5 Americans will experience a mental illness in a given year. 1 in 5 children, either currently or at some point during their life, have had a seriously debilitating mental illness. 1 in 25 Americans lives with a serious mental illness, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or major depression. In order to address these underlying issues, people need to have access to mental health services. If mental illness continues to go untreated for a long period of time, it can result in tragic consequences for the individuals that suffer from it, including losing their job, substance abuse, homelessness, inappropriate incarceration, and suicide, and poor quality of life. And yet, over half of adults with a mental illness do not receive treatment (54.7%), totaling over 28 million Americans as of today. Mental health services are vital for supporting people as they work to recover from their mental health problems. However, they are very costly and often require the individual to either have insurance or pay out of their pocket. The average cost of psychotherapy in the U.S. ranges from $100 to $200 per session (depending on the state). Not many people are able to afford to pay the high prices for these services, leaving the individual without access to the services that they need. Additionally, with the cost for therapy and counseling being too expensive, it can add more stress to the individual that's struggling with mental illness. By making mental health services free, it will allow all of the public to have full access to the treatment and support that they need in order to recover without them having to worry about the costs.
Con
#2
Definitions

Pro not only failed to define several key terms in the prompt, but also defined something that isn't even in the prompt, wasting the storage space of the digital description section. Tip for Pro: A winnable setup would be more optimal if the terms in the topic and only them are defined in the description.

Mental Health: noun
a person’s condition with regard to their psychological, emotional, and social well-being
Accepted.

Define "services"
2
a: the work performed by one that serves
b: HELPUSEBENEFIT
c: contribution to the welfare of others
d: disposal for use
These are the entries I have found on MW dictionary that fit the contextual environment of this topic. Feel free to add any if you label the source and justification.

Define "Free"
1not costing or charging anything
The topic should be:
Work(especially beneficial work) regarding people's emotional, social, psychological well-being should cost nothing.
There are no limiters, so we are assuming that the topic says, all work that could qualify as mental health services should not be paid by anyone using anything.

Arg 1: Free to Whom?

When we say something is free in casual terms, we usually mean they are free to "us", the consumers. Unless the corporation was purposefully non-profit just to prove me wrong, which I will get to in a moment, nobody in the baseball industry would think their net income increased when a group of people turned in their "free baseball ticket" from the lottery, one form or another. We usually say something is free if we don't have to pay for it. WE don't have to pay for it.

However, this is a debate, and using vernacular English debate topics will only get more confusing as different specimens of implicature makes the semantical environment deep. I wish to have nothing to do with those. We use a dictionary that collects what the authentic meaning of a word is, which is Merriam-Webster.

If a commodity is free to certain consumers, it usually means that another party pays for its worth that is not zero. For example, if you enjoy a free meal along with your boss at a classy dine, it probably means the boss pays for both individuals' meals. And yes, actual quality of "free" can be denied even if no financial exchange, not cash nor loanable fund, was made. If you and your boss leaves without paying, the restaurant pays for the meal because they have output the value of labor equal to that the price of the meal made, even if they didn't get anything material from it. And if the police knocks on your door and chases you to the jailhouse at the same time supplying the diner with the supposed amount of cash, in the end, you are still paying for it. It does not cost nothing unless the economy ceases to function due to there being a lack of functional currency.

The idea is if something has value, it is not free, someone somewhere is paying for it. Since what group of people mental health services should be free to was not specified in the preset, this means based on the bounds(or a lack thereof), Pro is correct if and only if:
-Mental health services carry no value
-Currency hold no value
The second one is obviously wrong as we have used currency to trade for stuff like gold and ice cream for decades if not centuries, even if they are just a more stiff variation of toilet paper and some numbers on a computer. We use those. We actually do.

The first one was openly dismissed by Pro, as Pro admits mental health services do have value.
Our mental health is one of the most important aspects of our well-being. While your physical health is also important, if your mental health isn't taken care of, then you will struggle to take care of the rest of your wellbeing. Many people within America alone struggle with maintaining a healthy mental wellbeing and often go untreated for any underlying issues.
I do not have to cite the entire paragraph.

Conclusions:
  • Because both parties agree that mental health services hold value
  • And that if something has value, someone somewhere at some time will pay for it, making it not "free"
  • Thus, Mental health services should not be "free" as long as they still worth something.
I rest my case.

Round 2
Pro
#3
Forfeited
Con
#4
Ex10nd
Round 3
Pro
#5
Forfeited
Con
#6
Keep 'em extending.
Round 4
Pro
#7
Forfeited
Con
#8
It is the last round and I should be able to declare victory here.