History Main / NoMedicationForMe

* The music video to LetsPlay/{{Dream}}'s song "Mask" is about his struggles with ADHD and him coming to accept that part of himself. One scene notably shows him throwing away "normal pills", which represent ADHD medication. Dream later clarified that he's not a medical professional, that the video was specifically about his personal experience with going off his medication, and that he didn't mean to encourage anyone else to stop taking their meds.

* ''Film/SenoraInfluencer'': Fatima stops taking her medication after Jackie, her new therapist, tells her to.

** One episode has a schizophrenic father who goes of his meds and kidnaps his son after his ex-wife prevents him from seeing him because he promised to take his meds. He's ranting about how the mental hospital killed a woman and stopped giving him his meds because he saw it. [[spoiler:As it turns out, that's actually what happened. The mental hospital tried to save money by turning off the AC, and the patient in the room next to his died from heatstroke. They stopped giving him his meds [[CassandraTruth so no one would believe him]] and then kicked him out. However, they kept saying they were giving him his meds to charge the insurance company. This leads to manslaughter and fraud charges on everyone involved, and the father reuniting with his family properly once he got back on his meds.]]

* Serge Storms, the protagonist of the ''Florida Roadkill'' novels by Creator/TimDorsey, is supposed to be on quite a lot of antipsychotic drugs. He often skips doses because they keep him from thinking clearly. When he skips doses for too long (Something that he is usually in the middle of doing in every single book), he goes on killing sprees.

* In ''VisualNovel/HigurashiWhenTheyCry'' it's shown that Rena takes pills presumably for an unspecified mental illness. She, however, doesn't believe they're useful. In one arc Rena stops using them [[spoiler:due to her [[HatePlague Hinamizawa Syndrome]] acting up]].

* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'':

--->''You look at me like I'm out of shape. Like I drank too much and forgot my medication. I'm an artist! Who can expect me to work on antipsychotics?''

* Doc Will Magnus, creator of the ComicBook/MetalMen, takes regular medication to treat his Manic/Depressive bipolar disorder with delusional episodes, but his 'stabilised' self is also less inventive. In ''ComicBook/FiftyTwo'', a group of SuperVillain MadScientist types kidnap him, confiscate his medication, and set him to work, intending to get him to recreate the DoomsdayDevice Plutonium Man that he made the last time he went nuts. However, this does not lead to the results that the mad scientist types had hoped for, [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome and Magnus winds up tearing apart their criminal organization from the inside]].
--> "You shouldn't have taken away my meds! I told you... I do ''crazy'' things without my meds!"
* In ''Lab Rat'', the prequel comic to ''VideoGame/Portal2'', Doug Rattmann avoids taking medication for his schizophrenia. [[SubvertedTrope 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. It later turns out to be DoubleSubverted though, as the CompanionCube he had been hallucinating was giving him advice and warnings. When he takes his meds, the Cube disappeared, and Rattman nearly dies because he didn't have the Cube to warn him about a trap.
* Count Vertigo of the ''Comicbook/SuicideSquad'' didn't take medication for his bipolar disorder not because he didn't want to, but because it doesn't help. When speaking to a psychiatrist, he explains that he'd tried practically every medication to help with his disorder, but ultimately none of them stuck. Ironically, he's completely cured as a side-effect of Poison Ivy's drugs and refuses to believe it when told the first time.

* Suggested by Rainbow Dash when she hears about Twilight's titular ''Illness'' in the fanfic of the same name. Twilight counters with a good part of the DontTryThisAtHome disclaimer above. [[spoiler:And one of the meds is a magic ''suppressor'' since it partly affects her illness.]]
* After finding herself in BedlamHouse, Melanie notices that an orderly was going to give her medication, in Music/SpiceGirls fic, ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/21828973/chapters/52145371 Just Taken]]''. Thinking they were pain pills thanks to being badly injured in a fight, Melanie rejects the offer, not realizing it was actually tranquilizer. She later was administered medication against her request as the orderlies feared any further injuries. Melanie had made it clear, [[SkipTheAnesthetic NO MEDICATION]]. Of course, her request was declined, even her dad, Alan, pleas with her to follow DoctorsOrders.

* ''Fanfic/SuperVillainPrevention101'': Harley Quinn's father is often off of his psychiatric medication, however it has to do with money rather than choice. As a result, he turns to [[TheAlcoholic alcohol]], which only worsens his mental health and causes him to become [[DomesticAbuse abusive towards his wife]].
* Averted during ''Fanfic/{{Uplifted}}'s'' final installment ''Arrival''. John Hoch is on contemporary drugs to keep himself from total collapse. Problem is the only option available is ''Pertivin'', an early form of methamphetamine. His Industrialist son, John, is also on prescription stabilizers in the 1990s, but with him mixing it with booze and cocaine, it seems more like genuine addiction compared to needing it.
* Tara in ''Fanfic/WedFlyAwayTogether'' is mentally ill but won't take medicine. She rarely even take medicine for her infections, nevermind her mental health.

* A rare [[InvertedTrope inversion]] in ''Film/AsGoodAsItGets'': Obsessive-compulsive Melvin starts taking medication for his disorder because LoveInterest Carol makes him want to be a better man.
-->"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 thing, pills. Hate. I'm using the word "hate" here, about pills. Hate. My compliment is, that night when you came over and told me that you would never... well, you were there, you know what you said. Well, my compliment to you is, the next morning, I started taking the pills."
* In ''Film/ABeautifulMind'' (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 since he mentions to his colleagues during the Nobel ceremony that he is taking the latest medications (probably due to the fact that modern medications have fewer side-effects). As well as that, when he's off the medication, he occasionally has to consult with people he's familiar with (e.g. his students) to make sure the things he's seeing are real. The RealLife Nash never got back to medication and as a result, he tended not to be allowed to give speeches at his award ceremonies, for fear he'd go into anti-Semitic ranting. Ron Howard added the line to the movie specifically to avoid the negative implication toward antipsychotic medications, but this has been decried by (some) mental health advocacy groups.
* ''Film/GardenState'' is something of a subversion since it's made clear he never really needed the medication in the first place. His father acted as his psychiatrist (which the film [[LampshadeHanging 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.

* Subverted in the movie ''Film/ProzacNation'', the protagonist refuses to take her medication since she sees it as poison (she is bipolar). As a result, she loses her boyfriend, writes gibberish (writing is her passion), drops out of college and only gets better when she takes her medication, although she wonders if the medicated person is really her.

* Lampshaded/played with in ''Film/RepoTheGeneticOpera''. We never find out what Nathan's medicine was intended for, and it's definitely got some ''nasty'' side-effects [[spoiler: given what it does to Shilo]]. And going off it may not have made any major difference - but we don't know that it really helped either, since [[spoiler: Nathan is noticeably free-falling off the edge, if not actually leaping off of it, by the time the opera rolls around and he wasn't exactly the poster child for mental stability beforehand, and Shilo wasn't sick in the first place since Nathan was just trying to keep her in the house]].
* In ''Film/ThorTheDarkWorld'', Dr. Erik Selvig is seen with a big bag of meds after having "had a god in [his] brain" from ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'', due to thinking himself [[CloudCuckoolander crazy]] (admittedly, he's not the only one). Upon seeing a flock of birds [[TheCuckoolanderWasRight fly in an S-pattern, disappear at the start of the S-pattern, then]] ''[[TheCuckoolanderWasRight reappear flying out of the sidewalk under his, Darcy, and Ian's feet]]'', he quickly decides "There's nothing more reassuring than to know that [[WorldGoneMad the world is even crazier than you are]]" and dumps the meds in the nearest trash can.
* A really dark example in ''Film/TheVoices''. Jerry takes medication at the behest of [[ItMakesSenseInContext one of his dead victims]] one night to help with his mental illness. When they kick in, they [[spoiler: reveal that his home is not a comfy, tidy spot where he has room to cut up his victims and hide them. It's a filthy hole and the mess he made trying to cut up his victims is right out in the open. He flushes the meds down the sink and everything is back to "normal" the next day.]]
* Played straight in ''Film/WhatTheBleepDoWeKnow'', when the main character tosses away her anxiety medication the moment she starts feeling good about herself.
* Deconstructed in the comedy ''Film/MyBoyfriendsMeds''. A man forgets his psychiatric medicine while on vacation and ends up having a really weird manic episode.

* ''Film/Joker2019'': At the beginning of the film, it's stated that Arthur is taking ''seven'' different medications for his mental illness, which only seem to make him depressed, but once Gotham's social work funding is cut, he is forced off his meds. He tells his former coworker Randall that he feels better than ever now that he's not taking any more pills... right before Arthur brutally murders him with a pair of scissors.
* In ''Film/ConfessionsOfAPsychoCat'', Max has prescribed anti-psychotic medication for Virginia. However, her evasive answer to him indicate that she no longer taking it, which goes a long way to explaining her psychotic break.
* Mentally ill insomniac Georgie from ''Film/WhoIsHarryKellermanAndWhyIsHeSayingThoseTerribleThingsAboutMe'' refuses to take anything his psychiatrist prescribes, even sleeping pills.
-->'''Georgie''': I come to you in flames and you treat me for sunburn. All I need is my songs. You and your goddamn pills.
* Gabriel from ''Film/TheDrummerAndTheKeeper'' gets medicated for bipolar disorder after his bandmates tell him they'll kick him out of the band if he doesn't stop his erratic behavior. But after he's been medicated for months, they tell him they're kicking him out anyway because his drumming doesn't have the same energy it did before. Gabriel flushes all his pills down the sink and spends the night drumming. [[spoiler:During the ensuing manic episode, Gabriel makes out with the {{groupie}} Christopher is in love with in front of him, insults him and tells him (truthfully) that [[ParentalAbandonment his mum doesn't want him]], breaks into Christopher's institution and sets his beloved LEGO set on fire, and finally attempts to [[SelfImmolation self-immolate]] in front of what he mistakenly thinks is the mansion of pop star Nevo, due to his delusional belief that she's been attending his concerts. Gabriel spends the next few months in a mental hospital, with nobody willing to visit him except his psychiatrist.]]
* Sarah from ''Film/{{Meadowland}}'' has been prescribed lithium for grief over the disappearance of her son, but early in the movie she flushes all her pills down the sink.

* Creator/IsaacAsimov's "Literature/LightVerse": Avis Lardner owns a number of robot servants, [[GoodOldRobot which she refuses to repair/replace]], claiming "any minor eccentricities must be borne with". One of her robots, Max, is so damaged that he can barely perform daily expected tasks. When one of the engineers of US Robotics repairs the damage, Lardner reveals that he had been [[MiraculousMalfunction the genius]] who made her [[FictionalPainting light-sculptures]], and now he won't be able to create them anymore.
* In Creator/TerryPratchett's ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'':

* Joanne Greenberg's ''Literature/INeverPromisedYouARoseGarden'' takes place in a hospital where the focus is on psychotherapy, not medication, but patients still got chloral hydrate for sleep. This was based on Chestnut Lodge, where Greenberg was actually a patient and not their only success story. She recently revealed that they also gave patients Seconal and other sleeping medication as well.
* In ''Literature/OneFlewOverTheCuckoosNest'' 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 and decides he'd rather have the seizures; the other is terrified of having a seizure and takes the medication intended for the first epileptic as well as his own to make sure he avoids it. In real life decreased salivation ("cotton mouth") is a side-effect of most psychoactive drugs of various kinds and daily use over a long period of time is likely to wreck your teeth.
* In ''Literature/ThePhoenixDance'', 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.
* Beautifully used in ''Literature/ToKillAMockingbird''. When Mrs. Dubose, an elderly neighbor, calls Atticus a "nigger-lover," Jem destroys some of her flowers as a result, and as punishment, Atticus makes the boy read aloud to her every day for a month. After the punishment ends and Mrs. Dubose passes away, Atticus reveals that not only was Mrs. Dubose dying of a terminal illness, but she had become addicted to morphine to relieve the pain. She was so determined to [[DyingAsYourself die as herself]] that she stopped taking the medicine; the horrible withdrawal symptoms were only eased by Jem reading to and distracting her. Atticus says that to deny the morphine and die painfully but clear of mind, is the bravest thing he has ever known.
* In ''Literature/XandriCorelel'', [[spoiler:Marco Antilles]] was locked up and forced to take bipolar medication. He says it rotted his brain, and he quit taking it as soon as he escaped.
* Drea from ''Literature/HarmonicFeedback'' hates her ADHD medication, which makes her feel like a zombie, even though her mother thinks she's better behaved on it.

* Frankie from ''Literature/TornadoBrain'' spent years on various medications with a wide variety of unpleasant side effects. Now her mom says she can stay off medication if she can control her temper without it, so she works hard to stay calm.

* Inverted in ''Literature/TheRoosevelt'' novel ''Carry the Ocean''. After Jeremey is diagnosed with depression, he wants to be medicated, but his mom, who desperately wants him to be normal, tells the doctor he doesn't know what he's talking about and refuses to let Jeremey get any help. After his suicide attempt, he finally gets medicated, although it takes a while to find a drug that has side effects he can live with.
* Alvie from ''Literature/WhenMyHeartJoinsTheThousand'' was misdiagnosed with schizophrenia at age ten and forced to take pills that dulled her thoughts and feelings and made her feel like she was living in a bubble that made everything blurry and wobbly. She tried hiding them under her tongue and spitting them out, and later vomiting them up in the bathroom, but Mama caught her and started checking under her tongue and banning her from going into the bathroom for two hours after she took the pills. Eventually Alvie figured out a solution - she bought some vitamin pills that looked like her medication and swapped the pills while Mama was sleeping. Mama never noticed the difference.
* In ''Literature/SmallAsAnElephant'', Jack's mom doesn't take her bipolar medication because she feels more "alive" that way, even though she has manic episodes that cause her to leave Jack alone in the apartment for days at a time, followed by being a SleepyDepressive for days or weeks. In the past she's decided on several occasions to never go off her meds again, but those decisions never last.
* In ''Literature/{{Bewilderment}}'', Theo thinks kids are over-diagnosed and over-medicated. He's adamantly opposed to the idea of medicating his son Robin, despite his violent outbursts. When social services threaten to get involved, Theo signs Robin up for experimental neurofeedback therapy, which he's more comfortable with than medication.
* ''Literature/LilyAndDunkin''
** Dunkin's dad has bipolar disorder. The last time he went unmedicated, he decided to become the Denture King of South Jersey and spent the family's life savings on a billboard. [[spoiler:Then he committed suicide.]] That's why Dunkin and his mom had to move in with Dunkin's grandmother in Florida. When they passed the billboard on the highway, Dunkin's mom [[FlippingTheBird flipped it off]].
** Dunkin also has bipolar disorder with psychotic elements. He's been medicated since he was ten, but when he accidentally skips a few doses, he finds that his basketball skills improve. He decides to start intermittently skipping doses. [[spoiler:His behavior becomes more and more erratic until he has a psychotic break in the middle of a game and is carted off the court in handcuffs. In the mental hospital, he promises never to go off his meds again.]]

* The show ''Series/BlackBox'' is about a psychiatrist who herself is bipolar. One of the constant themes of the show is her frequent refusal to take her meds, resulting in occasional nights of "poor decision-making". She also starts hearing music and runs on the streets. This also strains her relationship with her boyfriend, especially when she admits that she cheated on him once after refusing to take the meds. And then again when she tries having rough sex with him while also off her meds, only for him to be put off. He later admits that he wasn't put off by her behavior, but by the fact that he found himself ''liking'' it.
* An episode of ''Series/BostonPublic'' had a hyperactive genius piano player, who gets put on Ritalin and doesn't want to play anymore. Unusually, it's not the player that wants off the medication, but his parents who feel like they got rid of an important part of him.

* One episode of ''Series/TheCosbyShow'' saw Rudy spending afternoons with an elderly neighbor who didn't like to take the various medicines her doctor had prescribed. Rudy tells Cliff about it, and he rallies Vanessa, Theo, and Rudy herself to put on a short, comic play about the effects of not taking proper medications. The neighbor eventually relents and agrees to start following her doctor's orders.
* In ''Series/CrazyExGirlfriend'' one of Rebecca's first acts on moving to West Covina is to flush her all medication down the sink. Unfortunately, most of her problems came with her and tossing out her anti-depressants and other meds wasn't a great idea. [[spoiler: To begin with, they were apparently what stopped her from having musical fugue episodes.]]

** 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, [[GoMadFromTheRevelation causing him to snap and go on a killing spree]].

* Has happened to both Craig and Eli in ''Series/DegrassiTheNextGeneration''.
** Eli's storyline with his meds has been handled fairly realistically; the first thing they put him on made him feel completely emotionless (leading to this trope) while subsequent adjustments have brought him into better balance. He also became manic a few times while he wasn't on them.
* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E10InTheForestOfTheNight In The Forest Of The Night]]'', Maebh's medication stops her hearing the voices of the mind controlling the forest.

* Discussed on ''Series/{{Glee}}''. Emma finally started seeing a psychiatrist for her severe OCD and she initially rejected the notion that she should take medication. Her psychiatrist helped her understand that mental illness is like any other illness and that medication can seriously help. She takes her meds at the end of the episode.
* In ''Series/HarpersIsland'', Henry's brother J.D. needs to regularly take multiple pills. Though he tends to stop taking them now and then because it makes him feel "foggy". When he's off his pills he tends to do irrational things, [[spoiler:like gutting a deer's throat and leaving it on the hood of someone's car and smearing threatening messages on their windshield with its blood.]]

** This is one of Dr. House's reasons to stop taking the Methadone, which cured his pain in the leg better than Vicodin, 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 on giving him [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selective_serotonin_reuptake_inhibitor SSRIs.]] He's afraid of losing himself and his abilities. He ends up taking them anyway though.
** 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: At the end of the episode it was revealed to be all just a prank by House, of course.]]
--->'''Kutner:''' We gave Van Gogh chelation therapy. Turned him into a house painter.[[note]]Chelation therapy is used to treat heavy metal poisoning. Something which is very urgent and is not a matter of mental health, despite what some quack advocates of an "autism cure" may sell desperate parents.[[/note]]
--->'''Taub:''' Maybe not, maybe we just put Hitler on Ritalin.
* Happens on ''Series/TheLWord'' when Alice has a nervous breakdown after Dana breaks up with her. In her case, though, she was downing pills like they were Pez and finally became sick of how dependent on them she had become.

** The original series was the first to explore this trope with the episode ''Pro Se''. A schizophrenic man who has been off his meds for years kills about 8 people in a clothing store. When forced to take his medication, it's revealed that he is quite the brilliant attorney and represents himself, almost beating [=McCoy=] in court. When his sister comes forth with damning testimony, he pleads out and goes back off his medication. His reasons for not taking it are the reasons many people on anti-psychotics refuse to:
--->'''James Smith''': I'm using every ounce of strength I have just to talk to you. I feel like I'm pawing through a wool blanket. I feel stiff, and like I'm half a mile behind everyone else. I get so damned tired. It takes so much effort, holding on to reality.
** A few criminals have tried to invoke this to avoid a conviction. One episode had a man suffering from Parkinson's not take his medication for the trial. His constant shaking was both distracting and meant to show to the jury that it would be impossible for him to hold a gun steady. Another stopped taking his meds to induce himself into a controlled coma. Both attorneys argued that the court can't force their clients to self medicate. The argument was successful in the former, but not so much in the latter.

** The episode "Blinded" has a schizophrenic off his medication (or it stopped working) that was a SerialKiller. When he's back on it he's a normal person and wouldn't hurt anyone...but also has to live with the guilt of his crimes, and tries to kill himself.

** Also thoroughly {{Deconstructed}} in one episode when a girl goes off her meds because a rock star tells her to, leading to her making a FalseRapeAccusation against two boys she had consensual sex with and causing a crash that kills a little girl and injured several others.
** Another episode reveals that Stabler's mother is bipolar, [[spoiler: and almost killed him during a Manic phase when he was younger]]. This -- coupled with her refusal to take medication because she ''wants'' the highs and lows -- have led him to cut off practically all contact with her, only reestablishing it [[spoiler: when his daughter presents similar symptoms]].
** One episode had a schizophrenic father who went of his meds and kidnapped his son after his ex-wife prevented him from seeing him because he promised to take his meds. He was ranting about how the mental hospital killed a woman and stopped giving him his meds because he saw it. [[spoiler: As it turns out that's actually what happened. The mental hospital tried to save money by turning off the AC and the patient in the room next to his died from heatstroke. They stopped giving him his meds [[CassandraTruth so no one would believe him]] and then kicked him out. However, they kept saying they were giving him his meds to charge the insurance company. This leads to manslaughter and fraud charges on everyone involved, and the father reuniting with his family properly once he got back on his meds.]]
* ''Series/LawAndOrderCriminalIntent'': Detective Goren, who has experience with mental illness in the family, spells out the faulty thought process that often leads to this trope (when it's not a conscious choice):
-->'''Goren:''' Only sick people take pills. If I don't take my pills, I won't be sick anymore.
* ''Series/{{MASH}}'' episode "White Gold": Col. Flagg is getting a self-inflicted wound in his head stitched and tells Hawkeye he wants no Novocain.
-->'''Trapper:''' You heard the maniac.

* "Haywire" in ''Series/PrisonBreak'' loses his photographic memory (and perhaps his mathematical genius) when he takes drugs to treat his collection of mental disorders.

* The entire premise of ''Series/UnitedStatesOfTara'' -- she went off her meds to discover the cause of her DID. The use of medication with multiples in RealLife is controversial at best[[note]]There is no medication that causes selves to integrate. Some multiples say that meds (especially neuroleptics) make them non-functional and prevent selves from communicating, others report no effect or that the drugs actually help.[[/note]] which hasn't stopped numerous TV shows and films from doing the "medication keeps the selves under control, then the fronter stops taking it and the Mad Killer comes out and slaughter ensues" trope. There is no actual case where this has happened, although ''Series/{{Becker}}'' had a somewhat witty satire of it.[[note]]The pills were for cholesterol, and Jerry, the aggressive self, ''wanted'' the group to take them, but meek Jim (the "host") threw them away because ''he'' had pill phobia. Because Jerry had previously hidden pills that "kept him away" from the front, Becker assumed he'd hidden these as well.[[/note]] Most competent professionals prefer to help the [[SplitPersonalityTeam different selves communicate and cooperate]]. Some doctors still doubt multiple personality disorder is real at all.
* ''Series/{{Vera}}'': In "The Moth Catcher", the VictimOfTheWeek is bipolar. Vera and her team discover that she has been off her meds for some time when Marcus discovers no trace of the medication in her system during the autopsy.
* Duncan spends most of an episode of ''Series/VeronicaMars'' avoiding taking his antidepressants. After jumping off a set of bleachers and injuring his head and then having an atypically vivid daydream, he ends up deciding that he's better off taking them after all. However, unlike many other examples, he actually consults a doctor regarding going off the medication.

[[folder:Music]]

* The ''[[Music/AnimalCollective Panda Bear]]'' song "Take Pills" is about getting off of antidepressants.

* ''Music/TheWall'' directly mentions this in the form of Pink's {{BSOD Song}} The Wall Part 3. "I don't need no walls around me./I don't need no drugs to calm me!/I have seen the writing on the wall./Don't think I need anything at all!" By this point, Pink has finally realized that he must face these issues that led him to build the wall around his emotions in the first place. [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] in that this happens right before the last quarter of the album, [[SanitySlippage where Pink completely goes off the rails and dives straight into fascism.]]
* The anti-bullying song "The Rhyme" by [=Scratch21=] states, in the first verse "I need a friend, playing pretend's not working, these pills are useless and the shadows keep lurking".
* "Take the Pill" by Music/EmilieAutumn is about this, where a mental patient is commanded to take some sort of psychiatric medication with unpleasant side effects, such as "killing your sex drive", "making you cry", and "burning your insides.

* The music video to LetsPlay/{{Dream}}'s song "Mask" is about his struggles with ADHD and him coming to accept that part of himself. One scene notably shows him throwing away "normal pills", which represent ADHD medication. Dream later clarified that he's not a medical professional, that the video was specifically about his personal experience with going off his medication, and that he didn't mean to encourage anyone else to stop taking their meds.

* An InvokedTrope in one scenario for the ''TabletopGame/TranshumanSpace'' character [[http://www.sjgames.com/pyramid/sample.html?id=5082 Shandy Xaxa Dack]], in which an Edgehunter (someone who seeks out new trends before they happen) becomes a fan of the somewhat unstable teen's poetry and wants to set her on a less self-destructive path ... but without actually using any of the easy and safe cures for mental imbalance they have in the 2100s because that might interfere with the poetry.

* Diana from ''Theatre/NextToNormal'' insists on this multiple times, most notably in "Didn't I See This Movie?", after her doctor recommends electroshock therapy.

* ''VideoGame/MassEffect1:'' A side-mission has Shepard and co. investigating a ship with the crew missing. Turns out one of the crew was rendered brain-dead, which his biotic girlfriend took badly. ''[[SanitySlippage Really]]'' [[SanitySlippage badly]]. One audio recording can be found with her saying the crew's giving her medication, but she doesn't want it. Soon enough, she went completely nuts and murdered everyone else on the crew to "protect" her boyfriend.
* In ''VideoGame/UntilDawn'' if Sam escapes the psycho, she can find evidence that [[spoiler:Josh]] has stopped taking their meds. [[spoiler:It turns out he's the one behind the horrors of the first chapters, and his insanity [[TalkativeLoon definitely shows]] once he's tied up in the shed.]]

[[folder:Web Original]]
* ''WebVideo/GameGrumps'': Danny's story about beating his depression during a trip to France, finalizing it by throwing his medication in a lake as a sign he no longer needed it. Later, he clarifies that not everyone should do this and that he got extremely lucky with being able to get away with it without repercussion.
* In the prequel comic for ''WebVideo/TheGuild'', Codex is told by her therapist that her best bet for improvement is to go on a certain kind of medication. Codex takes one look at the astonishingly LongList of [[SideEffectsInclude side-effects]] for the meds, [[ImagineSpot imagines herself suffering from all of them at once,]] and refuses.

* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' reveals that Steve's friend Barry, an obese, slightly mentally challenged boy is actually a crazed diabolical mastermind, who takes on a [[EvilBrit menacing British accent]] (voiced by Creator/CraigFerguson) when off his meds.

* Largely averted on ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill''. The series only views refusal to take medication as reasonable if the person in question ''doesn't actually have'' whatever it's intended to treat:
** In the episode "Peggy's Turtle Song", Bobby is misdiagnosed with ADD, due to a spectacular sugar rush causing him to temporarily become hyperactive. Abandoning the medication is seen as good.
** In "Just Another Manic Kahn-Day", Kahn goes off his manic-depression meds. Despite his [[TheMadnessPlace mania]] being akin to a DisabilitySuperpower, it's soon apparent that he ''really needed'' those pills.