Life is awesome - argumentum ad populum

[Shell B]

There is no way to prove that the majority of people with mental illness do better in the long run without them. Anyone who says they have precise statistics on the matter, is not thinking about it clearly. Firstly, you have a number who cannot afford medication, so there is not data there. Then, you have people who are not taking the right medications or are not taking them regularly. Then, you have people who are not working with their doctors and telling them they are going off their meds. Schizophrenics are notorious for losing their symptoms while on medication, assuming they are better and going off them, only to have episodes. Again, it is not something that can be labeled that way. It is far too complex, as the number of mental illnesses are vast and the number of people suffering from them even more so. Just think of the variables. One thing may work for depression for you, but not for another. It may work as an antipsychotic for yet another and so on. Let's take your case for example. There may be a medication that would have helped you. They didn't find it, but you are apparently not in the midst of an episode now and your illnesses are episodic. Will you need medicine in the future? There is no way of knowing. Could a regular exercise regimen be the answer -- yes. So, the question is, what evidence do you speak of? Remember, we are talking about mental illnesses in general. If we were to say something like psychosis the numbers would be very much skewed in favor of medication.