Evidence
Medicating Mental Illness
A big topic this year will likely be the use of medication to address mental illness. I’ve heard some people are running cases to promote/encourage/require those with chronic mental illness to take a certain type of medication. Certainly cases which involve involuntary hospitalization will likely involve giving medicine to patients. Here is a fantastic article [...]
ACT Affirmative Case
Here is an example affirmative case for this year. As I’ve mentioned before I believe in the continuous improvement of the first affirmative constructive case. The first draft should be just that – a draft. In no way do I think this case is perfect. (By the way, the A/T stands for “Answers To” and [...]
Great Resource – Bazelon Center
Just came across the Bazelon Center which has tons of updated information including a summary of the changes the recent Health Care Reform Act had on Mental Health services in the US. This seems like a great site to peruse to find some good generic evidence – it seems like it’s being updated constantly. Share [...]
Criminalizing The Mentally Ill
Mental Health Courts seems like a really interesting case idea. Here is an interview with an author whose mentally ill son just went through the criminal justice system. I discovered what happened to my son was not a freak occurrence. Right now, as we’re talking, you’ve got 365,000 people with bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, major depression [...]
Definitions
I’ve been working on a sample case that I’ll try to post soon. However, I’m running into a definition problem that I’m wondering if any one else has come across. In the literature I’m often finding authors using the term “severe mental illness” rather than “chronically mentally ill.” While I have confidence that a debater [...]
Not even sure where to start…
Found this resource… In its final report to the President, the Commission called for nothing short of fundamental transformation of the mental health care delivery system in the United States-from one dictated by outmoded bureaucratic and financial incentives to one driven by consumer and family needs that focuses on building resilience and facilitating recovery. The [...]
Mental Health Courts
One of the resouces I posted earlier from the Consenus Project dealt with Mental Health Courts. Here is a large PDF that gives you some good background on the topic. After reading through the introduction it became more and more evident that this case would have an effects-topicality problem. I thought it would be good [...]
Mental Health Parity
For any of you who have been around debate for awhile you may be familiar with a case called “Mental Health Parity.” When I was debating this was a big pet case for many teams. The idea was that under existing laws insurance companies did not have to treat individuals with mental illnesses the same [...]
Troop Cases
Saw this on the President’s weekly address – (8/28/10) might be helpful as an inherency attack on a military case: But for many of our troops and their families, the war doesn’t end when they come home. Too many suffer from Traumatic Brain Injury and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder – the signature injuries of today’s wars [...]
Szasz….
Well…. any negative debater who doesn’t bring up Szasz… in every debate…. may be giving up a trump card on this topic. While I’ve only so far brushed upon the topic it seems pretty persuasive that the entire concept of “mental illness” is a fiction to deem some behavior inappropriate in society. It may be [...]
Great Resource
I’m starting to get intrigued by my college mental health case – and will likely post a sample case in the next few days to give those who are new to the topic an idea of what a case should look like. Also, if you have questions about what your first affirmative constructive speech should [...]
Possible Case Area? College Mental Health?
Just got my first email with Mental Health news from Medline. Saw this interesting article that could be a good case. I haven’t researched it yet but a case dealing with the mental health of college students could be really interesting! Good Introduction card More cases of severe mental illness are being reported among college [...]
