That sounds like a horrible experience and it&#x27;s not surprising that you feel the way you do about psychiatric meds.<p>You&#x27;re right that many of them at the moment <i>suck</i>.  They have long lists of side effects, some of the side effects are severe (reducing quality of life, sometimes reducing length of life).<p>At least in the UK there&#x27;s some push towards patients becoming much more involved in their care.  There&#x27;s a bit of of focus on the informed part of informed consent. But we could do better here.<p>For some of the severe mental illnesses it&#x27;s a tricky balance - do we medicate people or let them live with their illness?  Mostly this should be up to the patient.  If someone has the capacity to decide then they&#x27;re allowed to &quot;make the wrong choice&quot;.<p>And while the side effects suck they can be better than the illness, which can lead people to die by suicide or live miserable lives.<p>But if someone just hears voices, and is okay with them, doctors should not be pushing that person towards medication but towards crisis planning and advanced directives.