# Mental illness is exaggerated

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mental-illness-is-exaggerated/660522>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [June 9, 2013, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mental-illness-is-exaggerated/660522 "2013-06-09T03:18:55Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 216

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**Author:** ![Hershele\_Ostropoler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e47c2d/32.png) [@Hershele\_Ostropoler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hershele_Ostropoler)\
**Post date:** [June 12, 2013, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mental-illness-is-exaggerated/660522/216 "2013-06-12T19:41:09Z")

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> [@Tony](#):
>
> I’ve learned a lot in twenty years and most of that is that medication is a placebo – a placebo that makes you fat, ruins your teeth, and takes away your sex drive. It’s like when in the old days your television didn’t work and you banged on it. Maybe it’ll work. Maybe it won’t.

I’m not sure the evidence offered (one medication didn’t work for one patient) is sufficient to support the conclusion drawn (no medication works for anybody).

I’m not going to argue with you saying it didn’t work for you, and I’m not going to say you weren’t failed by the system – it didn’t and you were. But all that proves is that humans aren’t machines

> [@matt357](#):
>
> The difference is some people have very poor coping skills.

All you people who think you’re mentally ill? Well, **matt357** has some good news: you’re not ill at all, you’re just a failure.

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