History Main / CuckooNest

The Cuckoo Nest is the dark counterpart of the LotusEaterMachine. A more benign form of the Cuckoo Nest is the HappyPlace. A more sinister one is ThroughTheEyesOfMadness. A version without the imaginary "reality" is GoAmongMadPeople. The supertrope is {{Gaslighting}}. For when this is a fan theory only, see DelusionConclusion. Sometimes occurs because the character was MistakenForInsane.

* In the 59th episode of ''Podcast/{{Hello From the Magic Tavern}}'', the guest is Dr. Matt Ward, a clinical psychiatrist in Chicago who is trying to get his patient, Arnie, to accept that he is merely hallucinating all things to do with Foon; 'Usidore' is actually a fellow patient who thinks he's a wizard, and 'Chunt' is a concerned nurse; also, one of the other patients is [[Series/{{Buffy the Vampire Slayer}} a cheerleader who thinks she fights vampires]]. Many, many previous episodes are reinterpreted as Arnie's delusions. In the end, [[spoiler:Dr. Ward turns out to be a minion of the {{Dark Lord}}, trying to mentally incapacitate Arnie]], and the space station guy brings up other series that used this plot in his weekly insistence that it's all made up. [[spoiler:[[TheStinger Dr. Ward commiserates with Sarah]], [[{{or was it a dream}} saying that after all they did, Arnie has sunk deeper into his delusion]] ]].

* According to Creator/TakeshiShudo, who worked on early episodes of ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' and the manga ''Literature/PocketMonstersTheAnimation'', the series was intended to end with the revelation that [[PsychopathicManchild an adult Ash]] had dreamed or hallucinated the entirety of Pokemon (Pikachu, his rivalry with Gary, [[WhatCouldHaveBeen the eventual Pokemon uprising]], ''everything'') while in a mental hospital, with [[TakeThat the takeaway being that]] [[StopHavingFunGuys it was a childish fantasy to move away from]]. Naturally this did not happen and is certainly never going to be attempted by any other writer given any access to the franchise.

--> '''Blue Voice:''' You are not a hero. You are not even Robert Reynolds. A couple of years ago, you began thinking your [[MissionControl alarm clock]] was speaking to you in a strange voice whenever you were near it.

* There is a ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'' fanfic called [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3259192/1/Waking_Up "Waking Up"]] in which all the characters slowly discover that all of the fantastic elements of the series (KiManipulation, MartialArtsAndCrafts, Ranma's [[ForcedMarriage engagements]] and Jusenkyo Curses) and parts of their personalities (Akane's anger, Ranma's ego, Nabiki's love of money) were delusions caused by chemicals the legitimately crazy Kodachi was putting into the town's water supply. They spend part of the story trying to adapt.
** There's another, [[https://stefangagne.com/twoflower/fanfic/WickedGarden.txt "Wicked Garden,"]] by [[http://pixelscapes.com/twoflower Stefan Paul Gagne,]] which follows Kodachi becoming progressively more powerful through gene-spliced roses intercut with scenes of a little girl telling her that none of this made sense and that she'd fail soon. The fic ends with her finding that she's been hallucinating the events of the fanfic due to a failed formula.

* ''Film/PsychoBeachParty'' ends like this, with the lead character waking up in an insane asylum. The camera pulls back to show that the events have actually taken place in a drive-in movie. Characters watching remark on how lame the twist ending is, [[spoiler:until they are stabbed by the alternate personality of the protagonist.]]

* In ''Film/ShutterIsland'', [[spoiler:the entire plot was fabricated by the main character's psychologists, to get him to break his delusions and accept reality.]]

* In ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'', [[spoiler:the Lady of the Green Kirtle tries to [[BrainWashed brainwash]] the heroes into thinking that Narnia was just a figment of their imagination, and that her underground caverns are the only "real" world. Puddleglum manages to stop her with a ShutUpHannibal.]]

* In ''Series/{{Community}}'', Dr. Heidi tries to convince the study group that their past three years at Greendale Community College were all a shared delusion, taking place at the Greendale Mental Institution. Considering that everyone ended up at Greendale for life-shattering reasons and a previous episode stated that everyone but Abed had psychotic tendencies, this was depressingly realistic... [[spoiler:until the group realized there was a flaw in Heidi's logic. A) Shirley's kids and husband, who she sees every day. B) Abed has pictures of Greendale on his phone. C) Annie is wearing a Greendale backpack the whole time. Heidi quickly admits to being a fraud hired by the psychotic Chang, who has taken over the school and replaced the dean, in order to keep the group from uncovering his actions.]]

* The surreal horror and noir supplement ''Cthulhu City'' for ''TabletopGame/TrailOfCthulhu]] gives this trope as a possible "terrible truth at the heart of the setting" option...although even if the City *is* merely a mad delusion, given the nature of the Mythos, that might not make it harmless to the investigators or the world.

* According to Creator/TakeshiShudo, who worked on early episodes of ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}' and the manga ''Literature/PocketMonstersTheAnimation'', the series was intended to end with the revelation that [[PsychopathicManchild an adult Ash]] had dreamed or hallucinated the entirety of Pokemon (Pikachu, his rivalry with Gary, [[WhatCouldHaveBeen the eventual Pokemon uprising]], ''everything'') while in a mental hospital, with [[TakeThat the takeaway being that]] [[StopHavingFunGuys it was a childish fantasy to move away from]]. Naturally this did not happen and is certainly never going to be attempted by any other writer given any access to the franchise.

* ''ComicBook/FallenAngel'' #14 directly references the ''Series/{{Buffy|The vampire Slayer}}'' episode. In this case, it seems like the character in question really ''is'' in a mental hospital, and is hallucinating the faces of the book's cast over the people there; at the end, it seems like she moves between dimensions, back to the series's universe.

* In an early version of ''Literature/JohnDiesAtTheEnd'', Dave looks in a mirror while under the effect of [[PsychoSerum Soy Sauce]], and sees an overweight and insane/retarded version of himself, saying almost exactly what he says later to John.

*** In "[[Recap/StargateSG1S6E19TheChangeling The Changeling]]", Tel'c finds himself jumping between the SGC, and a reality where he is a human firefighter. Played with, in that ''neither'' reality is real. [[spoiler:Except for Daniel.]]

* ''Film/TotalRecall1990'' has a scene where a doctor arrives and tries to convince the hero that he is trapped in an artificially created hallucination. He insists that the hero swallow a pill to return to reality, but the hero notices a drop of sweat falling down the doctor's face, exposing the sham. Ironically, the film teases that most of the film really does take place in the hero's head, and the doctor scene was just part of his spy thriller [[SchrodingersButterfly memory vacation]]. Everything the doctor warned about in his speech ("One minute, you're the savior of the rebel cause; next thing you know, [[spoiler:you'll be Cohaagen's bosom buddy...You'll even have fantasies about alien civilizations...]]") happens after that scene. Before Quaid goes under the machine at the start, one of the techs says [[spoiler:"Blue sky on Mars..."]], which is in fact how the movie ends. Another interpretation is that the doctor scene was NOT a part of his spy thriller, but was actually a real attempt by a real doctor (and his real wife) to snap him out of a fantasy gone wrong.
** [[spoiler:Subverted in the]] original short story (''We Can Remember It For You Wholesale'') when the main character has his memory altered to believe that only his existence is preventing the takeover of Earth by aliens, [[spoiler:only for aliens to appear at the end and reveal that this is true]].

* Episode 14 of ''Anime/TheBigO'' was one of these, although another possible explanation is that the character involved was temporarily transported to an actual alternate world.
* ''Anime/GaoGaiGar'' has a MonsterOfTheWeek try this on Gai. It lasts for about a minute.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'' fic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13734816/1/Asylum-of-Doom Asylum of Doom,]]'' Gaz is dragged along by Dib to investigate the ruins of a supposedly haunted abandoned BedlamHouse. After falling down some stairs and hitting her head, Gaz seemingly wakes up in the past as a patient in the asylum, being told that everything she knows about her life is a delusion. She's convinced that the whole thing is a concussion-induced nightmare, but the fact that it feels real and the constant stream of abuse by the asylum staff without end makes her start to doubt her sense of reality. [[spoiler:When she's about to be lobotomized, she wakes back up in the present, convinced that she was right about it being the result of a concussion, [[OrWasItADream only to glimpse the apparent ghost of a fellow patient she befriended]], indicating it was a vision granted by the ghosts of the asylum.]]

[[caption-width-right:640:...or kindly asylum director and hopelessly insane patient?]]

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

* The final season of ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'' culminates in the supernatural entity Darkness locking most of the supporting cast in a neverending nightmare where all their dreams are broken. When they ultimately give up on life, they are consumed by Darkness and become one with it. Judai eventually saves them.

* ''Manga/ApollosSong'' by Osamu Tezuka may well fit. For killing animals that show affection to their young, Shogo is placed in a mental hospital. EST causes him to have an out-of-body experience wherein he meets Athena, who curses him to live numerous lives of ill-fated love. Which he does, waking up each time he dies finding that it was all his imagination (or was it?) triggered by a treatment (EST, hypnotism, etc.).
* According to Creator/TakeshiShudo, who worked on early episodes of Franchise/{{Pokemon}} and the manga ''Literature/PocketMonstersTheAnimation'', the series was intended to end with the revelation that [[PsychopathicManchild an adult Ash]] had dreamed or hallucinated the entirety of Pokemon (Pikachu, his rivalry with Gary, [[WhatCouldHaveBeen the eventual Pokemon uprising]], ''everything'') while in a mental hospital, with [[TakeThat the takeaway being that]] [[StopHavingFunGuys it was a childish fantasy to move away from]]. Naturally this did not happen and is certainly never going to be attempted by any other writer given any access to the franchise.

* ''ComicBook/FallenAngel'' #14 directly references the ''Series/{{Buffy|The vampire Slayer}}'' episode. In this case, it seems like the character in question really ''is'' in a mental hospital, and is hallucinating the faces of the book's cast over the people there; at the end, it seems like she moves between dimensions, back to the series's universe.
* Creator/GrantMorrison's final issue on ''Comicbook/DoomPatrol'' centers on Crazy Jane in a mental hospital, where one of the supervising doctors, convinced all of her Doom Patrol adventures have been delusions, subjects her to electroshock and discharges her to live a humdrum "normal" existence. However, [[spoiler:in the end, teammate Cliff Steele saves her from suicide by taking her "home" to the utopian [[GeniusLoci Danny the World]].]]

* ABCComics' ''ComicBook/TomStrong'' had one of these. It began with a standard adventure, which went into "It Was All A Dream" and he woke up to his life as an unhappily-married factory worker in a [[WelcomeToTheRealWorld gray world with no superheroes]]. Then inconsistencies in his life lead him to discover that he has superpowers - but that he is a [[PhlebotinumRebel failed military experiment]] and his entire superhero life is just as much a delusion as his normal-schmuck life. Then he breaks out of the delusions back to his real superheroic life. The villain's plot failed because the gray world Tom Strong had been hallucinating lacked hope, and Tom couldn't give up hope.

* Creator/ScottMcCloud's ''ComicBook/{{Zot}}'' has a story called "Season of Dreams" in which the main character Jenny gets trapped inside gigantic robot called Zybox, which induces her into an artificial dream in which Zot and all her adventures with him were just mere delusions caused by a severe depression after the divorce of her parents.

* There is a ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'' fanfic called [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3259192/1/Waking_Up "Waking Up"]] in which all the characters slowly discover that all of the fantastic elements of the series (KiManipulation, MartialArtsAndCrafts, Ranma's [[ForcedMarriage engagements]] and Jusenkyo Curses) and parts of their personalities (Akane's anger, Ranma's ego, Nabiki's love of money) were delusions caused by chemicals the legitimately crazy Kodachi was putting into the town's water supply. They spend part of the story trying to adapt.
** There's another, [[https://stefangagne.com/twoflower/fanfic/WickedGarden.txt "Wicked Garden,"]] by [[http://pixelscapes.com/twoflower Stefan Paul Gagne,]] which follows Kodachi becoming progressively more powerful through gene-spliced roses intercut with scenes of a little girl telling her that none of this made sense and that she'd fail soon. The fic ends with her finding that she's been hallucinating the events of the fanfic due to a failed formula.

* PlayedWith in ''FanFic/FalloutEquestriaProjectHorizons''. [[spoiler:She's in a virtual insane asylum that's part of a real insane asylum that's attempting to treat her insanity. She was not hallucinating the wasteland. They were trying to help her accept the fact that she killed an innocent.]]
* Happens in the second SeasonFinale of the ''Fanfic/PonyPOVSeries''. [[spoiler:Twilight wakes up in an insane asylum and is told she killed Trixie and has been committed. However, it turns out this is all an attempt by Trixie's EnemyWithin, [[BigBad Loneliness]] to break her so she can't succeed in her mission to free Trixie from both Loneliness and Trixie's Discording. Twilight realizes this by seeing that the asylum is basically a TV version of one, not a real one.]]

* Played for laughs in ''Fanfic/TealovesSteamyAdventure''. Tealove and Snowcatcher get kidnapped by a cave troll. The cave troll's prior captive, Libra Ace, [[EasyAmnesia can't remember her life before she was kidnapped]], so she thinks that the interior of the cave is ''all that exists''. When Libra tries to explain to the others that their memories of the outside world are just hallucinations, neither of them find it even remotely convincing. [[spoiler:Libra comes around to their point of view when she gets all her memories back and leads the team out of the cave herself.]]

* In the ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'' fic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13734816/1/Asylum-of-Doom Asylum of Doom,]]'' Gaz is dragged along by Dib to investigate the ruins of a supposedly haunted abandoned BedlamHouse. After falling down some stairs and hitting her head, Gaz seemingly wakes up in the past as a patient in the asylum, being told that everything she knows about her life is a delusion. She's convinced that the whole thing is a concussion-induced nightmare, but the fact that it feels real and the constant stream of abuse by the asylum staff without end makes her start to doubt her sense of reality. [[spoiler:When she's about to be lobotomized, she wakes back up in the present, convinced that she was right about it being the result of a concussion, [[OrWasItADream only to glimpse the apparent ghost of a fellow patient she befriended]], indicating it was a vision granted by the ghosts of the asylum.]]

* ''Film/TotalRecall1990'' has a scene where a doctor arrives and tries to convince the hero that he is trapped in an artificially created hallucination. He insists that the hero swallow a pill to return to reality, but the hero notices a drop of sweat falling down the doctor's face, exposing the sham. Ironically, the film teases that most of the film really does take place in the hero's head, and the doctor scene was just part of his spy thriller [[SchrodingersButterfly memory vacation]]. Everything the doctor warned about in his speech ("One minute, you're the savior of the rebel cause; next thing you know, [[spoiler:you'll be Cohaagen's bosom buddy...You'll even have fantasies about alien civilizations...]]") happens after that scene. Before Quaid goes under the machine at the start, one of the techs says [[spoiler:"Blue sky on Mars..."]], which is in fact how the movie ends. Another interpretation is that the doctor scene was NOT a part of his spy thriller, but was actually a real attempt by a real doctor (and his real wife) to snap him out of a fantasy gone wrong.
** [[spoiler:Subverted in the]] original short story (''We Can Remember It For You Wholesale'') when the main character has his memory altered to believe that only his existence is preventing the takeover of Earth by aliens, [[spoiler:only for aliens to appear at the end and reveal that this is true]].
* At the end of ''Film/{{Brazil}}'', when the protagonist is interrogated by the baddies, there is an action sequence in which [[spoiler:he gets rescued by [[LaResistance the resistance]] and gets to live happily ever after with his girlfriend in a house in the countryside]]. Then it swings back to him [[spoiler:singing quietly to himself while strapped to a chair in the room he was being [[ColdBloodedTorture tortured]] in before his rescue. The torturer present remarks to the chief interrogator that he seems to be lost to them, and they leave the room, the final shot being the protagonist, tied up in a chair, singing quietly to himself, lost in insanity.]] A [[ExecutiveMeddling studio-mandated]] alternate happy ending ditched the twist.
* ''Film/ReturnToOz'' had fun casting doubt on whether Dorothy's adventures in [[Film/TheWizardOfOz Oz]] were real or hallucinations.

* ''Film/TwelveMonkeys'' had its protagonist confused as to whether he had really come from the future, or was just insane. This gets to the point where his former psychologist and now traveling companion believes his story even when he's convinced it's false, although his conviction may just have to do with him falling for the past, which is much more pleasant than the future until TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt.

* ''Film/{{Inception}}'' has a variation on this trope - [[spoiler:After entering and living in limbo for several decades, Cobb "incepted" his wife with the idea that her world wasn't real, in order to get her to come out of limbo with him. It did not end well.]]

* Creator/KeithLaumer's ''Knight of Delusions'' (also published, confusingly, as ''Night of Delusions'') puts its hero through an insane number of alternate realities. Every time it becomes entirely unbelievable, he gets put into yet another one and is back at square one, trying to figure out if he's completely out of it, or if he's stuck in yet another false reality. And they try ''everything'' to find one that he'll stop mucking up; PI, crazy senator, psychic defender of mankind, a scientist with a LotusEaterMachine, a homeless bum, ''God'', and a good half dozen more at least. [[spoiler:Finally the reader's told he's president and the whole deal was a test being given by aliens to see if [[HumanityOnTrial Earth was mature enough to join the rest of the galaxy.]] ]]
* A short story in the ''Let the Galaxy Burn'' collection set in the ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' universe contained this. The story begins with a powerful Tzeentchian Chaos Lord inviting a fellow Chaos Lord to his stronghold, and expounding his conquests and victories throughout his ten millennia. The visiting Lord, however, sets a trap to kill him, and the Lord awakens in the body of a lowly human Cultist, being taunted and pelted with stones by others for his failings and he realizes his "life" as a Chaos Lord was actually a false memory implanted in him as part of his punishment, the better to break his mind. But as his fellow cultists perform a ritual to mutate him into an animal-minded Chaos Spawn, he remembers one other lesson from his teachings - that sometimes Tzeentch, fitting his capricious nature, will take a champion that is on the cusp of earning his rise to daemonhood and instead take his entire life away from him, condemning him to an inglorious end. As his body is ripped apart, the only thing he can think of is which life was actually his.

* In an early version of ''Literature/JohnDiesAtTheEnd'', Dave looks in a mirror while under the effect of [[PsychoSerum Soy Sauce]], and sees an overweight and insane/retarded version of himself, saying almost exactly what he says later to John.

* In Creator/RobertAHeinlein's short story ''Literature/{{They}}'', the protagonist is a paranoid being held in a mental hospital, convinced that the purpose of the entire world is to prevent him from learning some great truth that he can only glimpse in dreams. Eventually, [[spoiler:it is revealed that his 'paranoia' is nothing but the truth; the entire world was created just to prevent him from returning to his previous (somewhat unclear) existence entirely outside of our world.]]
* Much of the first ''Literature/ChroniclesOfThomasCovenant'' trilogy focuses on the protagonist's uncertainty over whether the Land is real or not. His resolution of the problem still leaves the question open.
* The ''Series/DoctorWho'' short story "Nothing at the End of the Lane" in the anthology ''Short Trips and Side Treks'' does this to Barbara Wright. Since the concept behind the book is to explore non-canonical concepts, it leaves the question of whether Barbara is has been attacked by a mind-parasite on an alien world, or is a schizophrenic suffering hallucinations as she tries to protect one of her students from her abusive grandfather completely open.
** In the ''Tales of Terror'' anthology, the First Doctor story that opens the book has him defeating the Celestial Toymaker at a spooky house, but the ''Sixth'' Doctor story later on has that Doctor returning to confront the Toymaker upon being warned by his other selves, and the Toymaker claims that One never actually won in the first place and ''everything'' that's happened to the Doctors since then has been the Toymaker's gigantic illusion (which is used to explain why so many monsters he encountered looked so shabby, among other things). [[spoiler:However, ever since One saw the TARDIS materialize outside the house just as he and his companions were ''leaving'', the Doctor knew he'd be there again one day. Thus Six catches on to the truth as soon as he gets there, and plays dumb until the right moment.]]
* This is attempted on the protagonist of ''Literature/{{Glasshouse}}'' (by Creator/CharlesStross) in order to convince them that their past as a soldier and black-ops specialist was merely the fevered imaginings of an immersive game addict. When this fails, a more subtle form of [[BrainWashed brainwashing]] is used to turn them into a StepfordSmiler instead.
* In Terry Goodkind's ''Literature/SwordOfTruth'' series book ''Chainfire'', the protagonist awakes to find his wife gone, and everyone he knows convinced that she never existed and is just a character he made up during an injury. He then spends his time trying to convince people that she really exists. [[spoiler:It turns out to have been a plot by his enemies. Duh.]].

* In ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'', [[spoiler:the Lady of the Green Kirtle tries to [[BrainWashed brainwash]] the heroes into thinking that Narnia was just a figment of their imagination, and that her underground caverns are the only "real" world. Puddleglum manages to stop her with a ShutUpHannibal.]]
* In ''Literature/SavingTheWorldAndOtherExtremeSports'', scientists try to convince Max that their escape was a dream, and that they were at the School the whole time. [[spoiler:It's not true.]]
* In ''Literature/{{Neverwhere}}'', the "test of spirit" to gain the Key weaponizes this against Richard: he has a vision that all his supernatural experiences were a hallucination, he's actually been a [[CrazyHomelessPeople raving vagrant]] in a subway station all along, and he [[SuicideDare might as well jump in front of a train]]. [[spoiler:A FantasyKeepsake helps him [[HeroicWillpower rebuff the illusion]].]]

* This trope is invoked in Episode 59 of Podcast/HelloFromTheMagicTavern, "Dr. Ward", though it apparently turns out to all be a ploy by a minion of the Dark Lord to extract information on traveling between dimensions. The Mysterious Man even lampshades its use at the episode's conclusion.

[[folder:Radio]]
* The ''AudioPlay/BigFinishDoctorWho'' audio drama ''[[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWho019MinuetInHell Minuet in Hell]]''. In this case, the hospital staff genuinely believed him to be delusional and were not playing mind games. Meanwhile, another inmate is trying to convince him that ''he'' is the Doctor instead. What happened was that as the TARDIS materialized, the other inmate got zapped and formed a connection between his mind and the Doctor's, leaving the Doctor addled and the other person with clearer memories from the Doctor.
[[/folder]]

* The surreal horror and noir supplement ''Cthulhu City'' for TabletopGame/TrailOfCthulhu gives this trope as a possible "terrible truth at the heart of the setting" option...although even if the City *is* merely a mad delusion, given the nature of the Mythos, that might not make it harmless to the investigators or the world.

* The infamous '[[http://creepypasta.wikia.com/wiki/The_Rugrats_Theory Rugrats Theory]]' that suggests the events of ''{{WesternAnimation/Rugrats}}'' are all delusions from Angelica's imagination. Depending on the version, Susie is either imagined too or the only character who is real with a DirectLineToTheAuthor (as her father ''does'' write for cartoons).
* In the 59th episode of ''Podcast/{{Hello From the Magic Tavern}}'', the guest is Dr. Matt Ward, a clinical psychiatrist in Chicago who is trying to get his patient, Arnie, to accept that he is merely hallucinating all things to do with Foon; 'Usidore' is actually a fellow patient who thinks he's a wizard, and 'Chunt' is a concerned nurse; also, one of the other patients is [[Series/{{Buffy the Vampire Slayer}} a cheerleader who thinks she fights vampires]]. Many, many previous episodes are reinterpreted as Arnie's delusions. In the end, [[spoiler:Dr. Ward turns out to be a minion of the {{Dark Lord}}, trying to mentally incapacitate Arnie]], and the space station guy brings up other series that used this plot in his weekly insistence that it's all made up. [[spoiler:[[TheStinger Dr. Ward commiserates with Sarah]], [[{{or was it a dream}} saying that after all they did, Arnie has sunk deeper into his delusion]] ]].

[[folder:Other]]
* This is the premise behind the roleplaying meta-game Power Kill, which is played in conjunction with a regular RPG with the events of that other game treated as the hallucinations of the Power Kill characters.
[[/folder]]

*** The first tie-in novel ''Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers'' introduces the BTL (Better Than Life) gaming device, which completely immerses you in a fantasy world inside your mind. Unlike other examples, you can become aware you are inside an artificial simulation & return to reality; the issue is that most people don't have the willpower to do so, and will eventually starve to death unless they have somebody taking care of their physical body.

* The premise of ''Series/LifeOn Mars2006'', particularly during the second season.
** And the SpiritualSuccessor ''Series/AshesToAshes2008'', with the protagonist realizing it early on.

** There's another, [[http://pixelscapes.com/twoflower/fanfic/WickedGarden.txt "Wicked Garden,"]] by [[http://pixelscapes.com/twoflower Stefan Paul Gagne,]] which follows Kodachi becoming progressively more powerful through gene-spliced roses intercut with scenes of a little girl telling her that none of this made sense and that she'd fail soon. The fic ends with her finding that she's been hallucinating the events of the fanfic due to a failed formula.

** This was exceptionally surreal as all the non-humans John had met appeared... as non-humans. And everyone on Earth was perfectly okay with Luxans and Delvians running around. The aforementioned artificially intelligent hallucination explains this is because the intent isn't to fool the target, but drive them insane.

** This was exceptionally surreal as all the non-humans John had met appeared... as non-humans. And everyone on Earth was perfectly okay with Luxans and Delvians running around.

* In the ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS6E19FrameOfMind Frame of Mind]]", Commander Riker is taking part in a ship's play, in which he plays a man in a mental asylum (where part of the underlying question is, in a genuinely oppressive environment, if the character is what they say he is). At the same time, he's being briefed on an undercover mission to a hostile planet. Riker starts to experience dreams and hallucinations in which he's trapped in the mental asylum. At one stage he's rescued from the asylum by the Enterprise crew who inform him he was captured during his mission. It turns out, though, he's still back in the asylum -- Riker ''was'' captured on the mission, [[{{Gaslighting}} his abductors]] [[{{Gaslighting}} were]] [[{{Gaslighting}} trying to make him think the]] ''[[{{Gaslighting}} Enterprise]]'' [[{{Gaslighting}} was an illusion]], and his memories of the play is how his mind is coping with the aliens' attempts to MindProbe him. [[EpiphanicPrison Once Riker realizes this, he's able to "break down the walls" of his fake reality, get his hands on a communicator and beam out of there]]. The episode ends with him trashing the set of the play, just to make sure.

* In the ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS6E19FrameOfMind Frame of Mind]]", Commander Riker is taking part in a ship's play, in which he plays a man in a mental asylum (where part of the underlying question is, in a genuinely oppressive environment, if the character is what they say he is). At the same time, he's being briefed on an undercover mission to a hostile planet. Riker starts to experience dreams and hallucinations in which he's trapped in the mental asylum. At one stage he's rescued from the asylum by the Enterprise crew who inform him he was captured during his mission. It turns out, though, he's still back in the asylum -- Riker ''was'' captured on the mission and his memories of the play is how his mind is coping with the aliens' attempts to MindProbe him. Once Riker realizes this, he's able to "break down the walls" of his fake reality, get his hands on a communicator and beam out of there. The episode ends with him trashing the set of the play, just to make sure.

* ''Fanfic/{{Asylum}}'' is centered around this happening to Twilight Sparkle, with the other members of the Mane Six appearing as inmates or workers at the mental hospital as well.