# Why People Get Mentally Unwell Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-school-of-life-7778042/why-people-get-mentally-unwell Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-school-of-life-7778042/why-people-get-mentally-unwell.md Podcast: [The School of Life](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-school-of-life-7778042) Published: 2026-05-15T19:30:00+00:00 Episode link: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/VG7363522682.mp3 Audio file: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/VG7363522682.mp3 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-school-of-life-7778042/episodes/why-people-get-mentally-unwell Duration seconds: 364 ## Resource It sounds really strange to speak of the upsides of being ill. Surely there are only downsides? Enjoying our Youtube videos? Get full access to all our audio content, videos, and thousands of thought-provoking articles, conversation cards and more with The School of Life Subscription: https://t.ly/A-Kje Be more mindful, present and inspired. Get the best of The School of Life delivered straight to your inbox: https://t.ly/p2E41 The School of Life runs a global online psychotherapy service that assists clients from over 40 countries. To find out more and book a session today, please visit our website: https://t.ly/xP3EL FURTHER READING You can read more on this and other subjects here: https://bit.ly/3cCj4E0 “It sounds really strange to speak of the upsides of being ill. Surely there are only downsides? But rather than assuming, as we normally do, that our mental illnesses are just a problem for us, we can dare to ask in a spirit of open-minded exploration: What are my illnesses doing for me? Whatever their costs, what are their secret upsides? What are their unexpected benefits? Why might I be covertly siding with them against the possibility of health?” MORE SCHOOL OF LIFE Watch more films on SELF in our playlist: http://bit.ly/TSOLself SOCIAL MEDIA Feel free to follow us at the links below: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theschooloflifelondon/ X: https://twitter.com/TheSchoolOfLife Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theschooloflifelondon/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-school-of-life-for-business/ CREDITS Produced in collaboration with: Natalia Ramos https://www.instagram.com/natalia_ramas/ Title animation produced in collaboration with Vale Productions https://www.valeproductions.co.uk/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adcho… ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-school-of-life-7778042/episodes/why-people-get-mentally-unwell/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-school-of-life-7778042/why-people-get-mentally-unwell.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.