History Main / NoMedicationForMe

* Frankie from ''Literature/TornadoBrain'' spent years on a 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.

* In ''Manga/{{Beastars}}'' bears are legally required to take a drug that causes their muscle to atrophy, but Riz started to think that his friendship with Tem would allow him to handle his un-medicated strength. [[spoiler: Instead he kills Tem by accident and starts eating him before he comes to his senses.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' 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 BrokenAesop, not quite a RuleAbidingRebel, [[RuleOfFunny just another Simpsons plot with no actual point.]]

** In another episode, Lisa is given antidepressants that just make her dopey. Marge is appalled by the side effects so she dumps all of the pills in the garbage. (This being ''The Simpsons'', it's never brought up again.)

* The Music/JeffersonAirplane song "White Rabbit" quoted at the top of the page is less of a critique of medicine and more of a condemnation of a society that uses meds to enforce StayInTheKitchen and other conformities.

* The Music/JeffersonAirplane song "White Rabbit" quoted at the top of the page is less of critique of medicine and more of a condemnation of a society that uses meds to enforce StayInTheKitchen and other conformities.

In fictionland, going off medication tends to result in becoming a mad killer. Milder versions involve hangover-like withdrawal and possibly a grudging admission that the medication helped. At best, the pills will be revealed to have been only a MagicFeather and it was all in their heads. Cue positivity and roll the credits. [[JustForFun/TelevisionIsTryingToKillUs Reality, however, does not work this way]]: going off of psychiatric medications without medical supervision[[note]]Or at least, weaning yourself off rather than going cold turkey like the people in these examples: doctors have written online guides for how to do this safely[[/note]] [[DontTryThisAtHome can cause serious harm or even death]]. If the medication is a burden or its side effects are worse than what's being treated, alternatives may exist if one talks to their doctor. (If the doctor will not listen when one talks, other doctors exist. Keep speaking up until someone listens.)

* Discussed and deconstructed in one panel of [[http://www.robot-hugs.com/helpful-advice/ this strip]] of ''Webcomic/RobotHugs''.
* In ''Webcomic/{{Sinfest}}'', [[http://www.sinfest.net/view.php?date=2009-05-28 Fuschia spits out her medicine.]] Given that the problem is that [[LoveRedeems falling in love is making her better]], it ends better than most.

* 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.
* ''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]].

* ''FanFic/HowTheLightGetsIn'': Laurel suffers from depression and an anxiety disorder. She went off medication when she was pregnant (which you ''are'' supposed to do); and since she abused her prescriptions with her addiction, went off it again once she got sober. She's smart enough to know that the medication helps more than anything else does, and has considered going back on it (and talked it over with her doctor, family, sponsor, etc.), but she thinks her sobriety is too weak to risk it.

* In the ''Experiment In Terror'' series, Dex frequently forgoes taking his antipsychotics; he prefers the mental clarity (despite the slight paranoia and hyperactivity) that comes with being sober.

* Joanne Greenberg's ''I Never Promised You A Rose Garden'' 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 ''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.

** 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.

** One episode had Munch's uncle - played by Creator/JerryLewis -

* In the case of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Elli_Perkins Elli Perkins]], she chose not to seek proper psychiatric treatment for her son Jeremy's schizophrenia in accordance with Scientology's teachings, opting instead to give him vitamins. [[spoiler:This decision would result in Jeremy murdering his mother.]]

** 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 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.]]

Go ask Alice, when she's ten feet tall.''

* In Creator/IsaacAsimov'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) utterly -- perhaps ''intentionally'' -- fails to defend himself.

* The reason Billy goes off his meds in ''Series/SixFeetUnder''.

** ''Discworld/MakingMoney'': MadArtist Owlswick Jenkins is healed via turnip transplant (which leaves him quite content, but creates a seriously troubled turnip), but, alas, he loses his artistic talent. He switches back and tries some non-radical coping methods instead.
** ''Discworld/ThiefOfTime'': Jeremy Clockson has a spoonful of medication every day, as his Igor reassures a man checking on him, [[ExactWords without mentioning]] that he pours it down the sink once he found it suppressed his creativity. Of course, that creativity was being used by a manipulative benefactor to destroy the world. And then there's the fact that the last time he stopped taking his medicine, he beat his assistant to death with a hammer.

* Played straight in ''Film/WhatTheBleepDoWeKnow'', when the main character tosses away her anti-anxiety medication after she starts feeling good about herself.