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{{trope}}
When a character takes medication for a mental illness, they might feel that something that made them unique is taken away. Alternatively, the side effects make them miserable. So the character (or sometimes a parent/guardian) decides to drop the [[Blessed with Suck]] meds to live life insane but alive. This can happen in [[Real Life]]; the medication can affect brain chemistry in ways that inhibit mental skills, as everybody reacts differently to different types of medication. But such a scenario should ''always'' be discussed with one's doctor (and a second opinion never hurts) rather than going cold turkey.
In
What's often intended as a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] instead becomes [[Television Is Trying to Kill Us]]. Doing this in [[Real Life]] can be harmful and possibly deadly from withdrawal symptoms (which can include suicidal tendencies in the case of mood stabilizers). Also, some symptoms of mental illnesses can only be successfully controlled through the use of medication. As stated above, there are multiple valid reasons for going off psychiatric medication, but it's always safer to discuss it with a mental health professional.
Covered in and used as a justification for [[Flowers for Algernon Syndrome]].
{{examples}}▼
▲{{examples}}
== [[Comics]] ==▼
== [[Comic Books]] ==
* Doc Will Magnus, creator of the [[Metal Men]], takes regular medication to treat his Manic/Depressive bipolar disorder with delusional episodes, but his 'stabilised' self is also less inventive. in ''[[
{{quote|"You shouldn't have taken away my meds! I told you... I do ''crazy'' things without my meds!" }}
* Todd Rice aka Obsidian of ''[[Justice Society of America]]'' and ''[[Infinity, Inc.]]'' averts this and knows he needs to take medication for his schizophrenia, and when he starts acting strangely his teammates wonder aloud if he's gotten off of it (turns out it was due to something completed unrelated).
* In ''Lab Rat'', the prequel comic to ''[[Portal 2]]'', Doug Rattmann avoids taking medication for his schizophrenia. [[Subverted Trope|In a subversion, however]], he recognizes he needs it, but because he's running low he saves it for when he really needs it to escape.
* In ''[http://www.angelfire.com/anime2/superhighway/Staik/staik.html The Tales of Ranma and Ranko]'' by Jack Staik and Lady Tesser, Ryouga turns out to need anti-psychotic medication, but has refused to take it because its effects prevent him from performing his signature [[Ki Attacks|Ki Attack]]. ([[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|And because it gives him heartburn.]]) Once his father ensures that he takes his meds properly, Ryouga calms down considerably, gets in a relationship with one of Ranma's former fiancees, and becomes a valued friend and ally to Ranma.
* In the [[Real Person Fic]] ''[https://archiveofourown.org/works/21828973/chapters/52145371 Just Taken]'', [[Spice Girls|Melanie]] requests not to receive pain medication. While this was respected in the first hospital, this was rejected at the other she found herself thanks to being sectioned under the Mental Health Act. Melanie isn't happy about being forced to take medication, even her dad, Alan, pleads with her to listen to [[Doctor's Orders]].
== [[Film]] ==
* ''[[Garden State]]'' is something of a subversion, since its made clear he never really needed the medication in the first place. His father acted as his psychiatrist (which the film [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshades]] as very bad practice) and reacted quite emotionally to him {{spoiler|pushing his depressed mother in a childish outburst just as the dishwasher door accidentally opened, which caused her to fall over and become paraplegic}}. The fact that the father was unwilling to accept it as a freak accident caused him to conclude his son had intense emotional problems; hence the unnecessary medication.
* In ''[[A Beautiful Mind]]'' (itself ostensibly based on John Nash's life), his anti-psychotic medication impairs his mathematical ability. Because of this, he ends up dropping it so he can continue his career. This is also subverted
* Played rather disturbingly in ''[[
* Lampshaded/played
* A rare [[Subverted Trope|subversion]] in ''[[As Good as It Gets]]'': Obsessive-compulsive Melvin starts taking medication for his disorder because [[Love Interest]] Carol [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|makes him want to be a better man.]]
{{quote|"I've got this, what--ailment? My doctor, a shrink that I used to go to all the time, he says that in fifty or sixty percent of the cases, a pill really helps. I ''hate'' pills, very dangerous
* Played straight in ''[[What the Bleep Do We Know]]'', when the main character tosses away her anti-anxiety medication after she starts feeling good about herself.
== [[Literature]] ==
* In [[Terry Pratchett]]'s [[Discworld]]:
** ''[[
** ''[[
* In [[Isaac Asimov]]'s short story "Light Verse", a robot that is malfunctioning is the creator of light sculptures. When its unique problem is "fixed", it can't create anymore. The robot's owner murders the scientist who fixed it, but it's noted that the victim (who has just realized that he's singlehandedly cut off what could have been a fruitful avenue of robotics research)
* In ''The Phoenix Dance'', Phoenix is bipolar and becomes incredibly creative in her "up" moods, so she starts taking less of her medicine to keep the good moods. Unfortunately, this just means that her bouts of depression come back, too.
* In ''[[One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest]]'' it is mentioned that the anti-seizure medication causes your teeth to fall out, which is a good reason why some of the patients don't want to take it. One gets the unfortunate side effect mentioned above
* Serge Storms, the protagonist of the ''Florida Roadkill'' novels, is supposed to be on quite a lot of
▲== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* An episode of ''[[Boston Public]]'' had a hyperactive genius piano player, who gets put on Ritalin and doesn't want to play anymore.
* Any and all ''[[Monk]]'' episodes where they try to cure Monk's OCD. He becomes really annoying and can't solve mysteries very well.
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* Tragic example: ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'' Season Two's flashback episode sees Niki trying to treat her [[Split Personality]] with medication, only to find herself as lively as a pile of seaweed. She surreptitiously stops taking it, and soon loses control of herself again, losing her husband in the process.
* ''[[Babylon 5]]'': Human telepaths are required to join Psi Corps or take drugs which suppress their telepathy for the rest of their life. Unfortunately, the drugs have side effects similar to clinical depression. {{spoiler|Ivanova despises the Psi Corps because her mother was a non-Corps telepath, and was eventually driven to suicide by her use of the drugs.}}
* The entire premise of ''[[The United States of Tara|United States of Tara]]''
* In ''[[Criminal Minds]]'', Reid's schizophrenic mother forwent her meds when she was pregnant with him. She goes off them again during the timeline of the series in an attempt to remember an event from Reid's past.
** The episode "Haunted" is about a man who went off his antipsychotic meds (with the approval of his psychiatrist) in order to access repressed childhood memories. These memories end up being ''much'' worse than anyone had imagined, causing him to snap and go on a killing spree.
* The reason Billy goes off his meds in ''[[Six Feet Under]]''.
* This is one of ''[[House]]'' reasons to stop taking the Methadone, which cured his pain in the leg better than Vicodine, but he also felt that the lack of pain affected his deducting abilities. He uses the same argument in the first episodes of Season Six when Dr. Nolan insists
** In the episode "No More Mr. Nice Guy" occurs a little variation of this trope: House employees test a sample of his blood without his consent and discover that he has neurosyphilis. They assume that the effect of the disease in his brain is the reason House is such a huge jerk. They prescribe him with a medication. Suddenly he starts acting a little nicer. All the employees then start asking themselves whether they did the right thing or if he is going to lose what makes him so unique. {{spoiler|In the end of the episode it was all a prank of House, of course}}
{{quote|'''Kutner:''' We gave Van Gogh chelation therapy. Turned him into a house painter.
'''Taub:''' Maybe not, maybe we just put Hitler on Ritalin. }}
* Duncan spends most of an episode of ''[[Veronica Mars]]'' avoiding taking his antidepressants. After jumping off a set of bleachers and injuring his head and then having an [[The Middleman|atypically vivid daydream]], he ends up deciding that he's better off taking them after all.
* In [[
* Has happened to both Craig and Eli in ''[[Degrassi]]''.
== [[Music]] ==
* The [[Animal Collective|Panda Bear]] song "Take Pills" is about getting off of antidepressants.
== [[Theatre]] ==
* Diana from ''[[Next to Normal]]'' insists on this multiple times, most notably in "Didn't I See This Movie?", after her doctor recommends
* Rebecca and Sara in ''[[Code 21]]'' feel this way, with good reason.
== [[Video Games]] ==
* When we first meet Gary in [[Bully (video game)|Bully]], he says he's taking meds for ADD and other problems. At the end of the game's first chapter, he says that he's gone off them and feels great. Because he's the main villain, this just ends up making him more unhinged.
== [[Web Comics]] ==
* In ''[[A Miracle of Science]]'', Manny underdoses his anti-[[Science-Related Memetic Disorder]] medication due to it making thinking harder
* Tragically subverted in [[Goblin Hollow]] [https://web.archive.org/web/20120522002539/http://www.rhjunior.com/GH/00352.html here]
* In ''[[The Last Days of Foxhound]]'', Ocelot throws away his medication for [[Chronic Backstabbing Disorder]] just before finally beginning the series of betrayals he's been plotting for years.
* ''[[Homestuck]]'': [[Erudite Stoner|Gamzee Makara]] is a nice guy who considers everybody his friends and would rather eat pies with imps than fight them. {{spoiler|[[Monster Clown|Then]] [[Kill'Em All|he]] [[Ax Crazy|sobers up...]]}}
* In ''[[Sinfest]]'', [
* A recent strip of ''[[Penny Arcade]]'' depicts Tycho looking over the last few strips he'd written while his Lexapro prescription had run out and marveling at his creativity. Gabe also called him out that during that time he was also [http://penny-arcade.com/comic/2012/01/09 "wrestling with demons of the mind".]
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* ''[[The Simpsons]]'' had one where Bart takes "Focusyn" to combat ADHD, and it makes him wicked paranoid. Major League Baseball is out to get us! Turns out...Major League Baseball ''was'' out to get us. Not quite a [[Broken Aesop]], not quite a [[Rule-Abiding Rebel]], [[Rule of Funny|just another Simpsons plot with no actual point.]]
* In ''[[Justice League Unlimited]]'', Flash villain The Trickster isn't actually a bad sort, but only taking his medication "when he's down" means he's also open to the delusions that make him go out and commit crimes. At the time Flash confronts him, both over the medication and to find out information, he isn't even aware he's in costume until it's pointed out to him. Said scene was an in-joke of sorts to the dramatic difference between the short-lived live
* In one episode of ''[[King of the Hill]]'', Bobby is (apparently mis-) diagnosed with ADD, and abandoning the medication is seen as good. In another, however, Kahn goes off his manic-depression meds and despite his mania practically being a [[Disability Superpower]], it's soon apparent that he ''really needed'' those pills.
== [[Real Life]] ==
* Check out ''The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat'' by Oliver Sacks for a few good examples, particularly the chapter on "Witty Ticcy Ray". A Tourette's-syndrome patient, Ray needs medication to function in society, but when he takes it he loses all his coordination and artistic
* Some psychiatrists will only prescribe medication as a last resort if nothing else is having any success or doing its full job because meds, as awesome as they can be for restoring full cognitive function, also have great potential for causing permanent brain damage as well as having other negative side effects, as detailed many times before on this page. Even without the numerous side effects, many people really hate being dependent on pills for control of their own bodies and minds.
* It's actually not uncommon for people with ADHD to forgo medication, instead opting to learn coping skills. The main reason, however, is not the lack of creativity but the lack of energy- some ADHD medications put people into "zombie mode" where they're almost constantly fatigued and lethargic. Even worse is that when kids' grades start slipping again, ''they're put on higher doses.''
** People with Tourette Syndrome also have
* In regard to some mental illnesses, maintenance psychiatric medication actually can or even should be a secondary option considered after others have failed.
** Some cases of depression, especially mild to moderate depression, and even some major cases. Talk therapy and lifestyle modifications have a better
** Mild ADD/ADHD especially in very young children and in adults. In this case, the issue is a risk of harm versus the risk of reward. In very young children, ADD/ADHD can be easily misdiagnosed and one side effect is stunted growth. In adults,
** PTSD and complicated grief are the saddest cases of this. Due to their origin as traumatic life experiences as opposed to being from brain chemistry, they are incredibly difficult conditions to deal with using existing medications - with some sufferers, even ''self-medication'' is more effective than existing psychiatric medications (because neither, unless depression is comorbid, have much to do with serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine - the neurotransmitters existing meds work with the most). In fact, some medications may provide a temptation for abuse much as self-medication would, or a quick and available means of suicide. Survivors often do better, [[Earn Your Happy Ending|if they do]], with time, talk therapy, supportive environments, and learning coping strategies to deal with [[Trigger/
{{reflist}}
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Madness Tropes]]
[[Category:Television Is Trying to Kill Us]]
[[Category:This Is Your Index On Drugs]]
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