First of all, I'd say it's a bit much to claim that psychotherapy is a quack profession [0] - even if you've had some negative experiences with it yourself. I'

First of all, I'd say it's a bit much to claim that psychotherapy is a quack profession [0] - even if you've had some negative experiences with it yourself. I'd rather say that if you've been diagnosed with a mental illness, and you are able to keep it in check or feel that you're making progress using only diet and exercise (no cognitive or behavioral tricks, for instance), I applaud you. Exercise is moderately more effective than no therapy in for reducing symptoms in cases of mild depression [1], but that's it (as far as I know). I'm sure you belive in your recommendations, but as research literature and experts of various fields disagree with your opinion, I don't. As for your note, I'm not sure what you mean about "hard-core mental illness", and the whole "chemical" thing is debatable [2] (i.e. "chemical imbalance" is in many cases not the complete truth), but no one is conflating mental illness with the moods and regular ups and downs of life. Real mental illness (i.e. diagnosable disorders) is what I am talking about, at least. [0]: http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/1996-13324-001 http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/1996-13324-001 [1]: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD004366.pub6/abstract;jsessionid=362F365B8F892FDE51ABE32E15920B38.f04t04 http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD004366... [2]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biopsychosocial_model http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biopsychosocial_model