History Main / DrivenToMadness

* ''WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants'', in "The Clash of Triton", Triton was the son of Neptune. At first, Triton had interests on the mortal fish's lives, and creating cures, but his father, disapproves of this, and pushes him into becoming a mighty god. So he resorts to one thing, exiling Triton to the Island in the Sky, after since he's been there so many years, Triton has developed an extreme hatred to his father, and plotted vengeance upon him. Once {{SpongeBob}} and Patrick released him form his cage, Triton makes his vengeance by destroying Bikini Bottom, but after all this damage, Neptune has actually become proud of how Triton's become, and so they bond once again.

* ''WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants'', in "The Clash of Triton", Triton was the son of Neptune. At first, Triton had interests on the mortal fish's lives, and creating cures, but his father, disapproves of this, and pushes him into becoming a mighty god. So he resorts to one thing, exiling Triton to the Island in the Sky, after since he's been there so many years, Triton has developed an extreme hatred to his father, and plotted vengeance upon him. Once SpongeBob and Patrick released him form his cage, Triton makes his vengeance by destroying Bikini Bottom, but after all this damage, Neptune has actually become proud of how Triton's become, and so they bond once again.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'': Accordingly, the Warner Kids almost invariably manage to do this to anyone they have adopted as their "Special Friend" (generally someone who is being a jerk to start with).

* ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'': Stan Smith is such an idiot he repeatedly forgets his anniversary despite how terrifying his wife Francine gets when he does. In "American Fung", he hastily gets Francine committed to a mental hospital for a few days so he can have more time to plan. Again, Stan is such an idiot he keeps forgetting the reason Francine was locked up, and by the day she's released, he has nothing prepared. When Stan greets Francine with a bucket of fried chicken and offers an incredibly half-assed explanation of how he did everything "for love", Francine not only states she genuinely hates Stan but she goes insane for real and gets committed indefinitely.

* Happens to [[WhiteCollarCrime Warren White]], a white-collar criminal who [[OnlySaneMan finds himself in Arkham Asylum]] in the limited series ''ComicBook/ArkhamAsylumLivingHell''. As the story progresses, Warren is continually tortured, abused and terrorized by the other inmates, until finally, he is locked inside Mr. Freeze's empty cell by an inmate trying to steal his identity, where he loses his nose, his lips, some of his fingers, and his ears to frostbite. Now a "freak" himself, Warren transforms himself into the villain The Great White Shark.
* ''[[ComicBook/TheKillingJoke Batman: The Killing Joke]]'': In which The Joker attempts to drive Commissioner Gordon insane and fails.
** Unfortunately, a detective who has the misfortune of overseeing Joker being processed through to jail in Batman Confident is indeed driven to madness, turning into a cop-killing psychopath who ultimately commits suicide when he realizes how Joker turned him into a monster.
*** Subverted with Harley Quinn, who was was insane but functional when she first met the Joker; Joker simply gave her an excuse to give up control to her crazy side. As someone put it elsewhere on the site, "the Joker might have driven her mad, but Harley was willing to car-pool."
** After having MadScientist Hugo Strange beaten to death, 'Boss' Rupert Thorne is visited by Strange's ghost until he eventually goes mad and is sent to Arkham Asylum.
* In ''ComicBook/TheBoys'', [[spoiler:Black Noir, the clone of Homelander,]] drove Homelander insane by mailing him photos of Homelander [[spoiler:actually Noir dressed up as Homelander]] eating babies, eating hearts, and committing violent murder-rapes. Homelander became an insane monster because he thought he was already a monster and just didn't remember it.
* Used to be part of ComicBook/{{Diabolik}}'s modus operandi. He stopped doing that, but by that time [[TheDogBitesBack he had earned himself two formidable enemies in the form of one of these victims and the son of another.]]

* The Sheeda in Grant Morrison's ''ComicBook/SevenSoldiers'' take great pride in their ability to break even the noblest of people and re-form them to suit their twisted desires.
** Also from ''ComicBook/SevenSoldiers'', after life has had a good hard go at [[BreakTheCutie breaking]] Sally Sonic, Vitaman essentially forces her to debase herself and then exposes her to [[PsychoSerum Doctor Hyde's Evil Serum]] to finish the job.

* Dr. Eggman in ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics'' started suffering a massive one following having his greatest victory -- defeating Sonic, capturing just about everyone and turning Knothole Kingdom into a crater -- swiped from him. He would ultimately snap after one last victory by Sonic pushed him over the edge.
* Incidentally, Franchise/SpiderMan is very good at this even if he doesn't entirely mean to do it.
** Kraven was so confounded by Spider-Man's humiliating defeats that he went nuts and eventually committed suicide.

* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'':

* In ''ComicBook/VForVendetta'', V kills every Norsefire employee who'd once worked at the concentration camp where he'd been imprisoned. Every employee, that is, except for Lewis Prothero, who as the camp commander had selected him, among other prisoners, to be subjects of medical experimentation. Because said experimentation drove V mad, [[PayEvilUntoEvil he drives Prothero mad]] by kidnapping him, sticking him in a replica of the camp, and cremating his beloved rare doll collection before his eyes.
* ''Franchise/WonderWoman'' [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 Vol 1]]: Deborah "Debbie" Domaine was forced into the role of the second ComicBook/{{Cheetah}} by Kobra, and eventually went mad due to their control and manipulations of her life.
* Everyone who didn't die horribly from The Cobblepot Expedition ship in ''ComicBook/BatmanTheDoomThatCameToGotham'' wound up devolving into madness. Professor Cobblepot himself is seen walking around naked in the sub-zero temperatures, having become a part of a group of local penguins, while Mister Freeze is transformed into a crazed undead monster, desperately trying to free the MonsterInTheIce that did this to him.

The subtrope, {{Gaslighting}}, is the subtle, insidious form of this.

%%%

%%%

[[caption-width-right:350:NeverWorkWithChildrenOrAnimals. [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs Or animals that are children.]]]]

* In a somewhat unknown Swedish novel, ''Simon's Family'' by Marianne Freddriksson, the character Isak is training at a boot camp. His squadron leader tries to break the spirit of him by being his antisemitic self (Jewish Isak had been molested as a child by Nazis- no I'm not making this up). Isak begins to go numb almost to the point of no return.

* Stan Smith of ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' is such an idiot he repeatedly forgets his anniversary despite how terrifying his wife Francine gets when he does. In "American Fung" he hastily gets Francine committed to a mental hospital for a few days so he can have more time to plan. Again, Stan's such an idiot he keeps forgetting the reason Francine was locked up and by the day she's released he has nothing prepared. When Stan greets Francine with a bucket of fried chicken and offers an incredibly half-assed explanation of how he did everything "for love," Francine not only states she genuinely hates Stan she goes insane for real and gets committed indefinitely.
* Accordingly, the Warner Kids of ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'' almost invariably manage to do this to anyone they have adopted as their "Special Friend" (generally someone who is being a jerk to start with).

** ''StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'':
*** In "[[Recap/StarTrekS2E6TheDoomsdayMachine The Doomsday Machine]]" SoleSurvior Commodore Matthew Decker is driven mad by the experience of losing his crew and command, and harbors a death wish for having sent the men and women under his command to their deaths. Stopped from wrecking the ''Enterprise'' in an attempt to destroy the Planet Killer, Decker [[DrivenToSuicide decides]] that his death is the only way he can atone for killing his crew, and rams a shuttlecraft down the Planet Killer's maw.
*** Then in "[[Recap/StarTrekS2E23TheOmegaGlory The Omega Glory]]" Captain Tracey goes insane after losing his entire crew to the Omega IV virus, making him the SoleSurvivor. Matters are not helped by Tracey thinking he's found a fountain of youth on the planet and using his phasers to aide the Kohm in their war against the Yangs.

* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' has this happen to Gul Dukat after he witnesses [[OutlivingOnesOffspring the death of his daughter]], at the climax of a long string of personal and career setbacks. His redeeming features and likable character traits had been submerged by his arrogance and ruthless ambition many episodes previously, but [[AlasPoorVillain it's hard not to pity him]] as he cradles her corpse and mumbles to her in a broken monotone. Dukat eventually comes out of his VillainousBSOD, but becomes steadily more unhinged and [[TheUnfettered even more dangerous for it]], even before he becomes the Bajoran religious equivalent of a DarkMessiah.

* ''Manga/ChainsawMan'': After Denji defeats The Doll Woman physically, Cosmo destroys her mentally by giving her [[MySkullRunnethOver all the knowledge of the cosmos]], reducing Doll Woman and her Dolls into [[EmptyShell wayward husks]] [[MadnessMantra that can only say "Halloween"]].

* ''Manga/ChainsawMan'': After Denji defeats The Doll Woman physically, Cosmo destroys her mentally by giving her [[MySkullRunnethOver all the knowledge of the cosmos]], reducing Doll Woman and her Dolls into wayward husks that can only say "Halloween".

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* What Akito Sohma did to Kana in ''Manga/FruitsBasket''. After Akito blinded Hatori for asking for permission to marry Kana, Akito turned against the poor nurse and blamed her so much for Hatori's partial blindness that she went mad. It was so bad that Hatori had to [[spoiler: delete Kana's memories of their relationship.]]
** [[spoiler: Ironically, ''Akito'' herself was driven to madness upon years of monstrous psychological abuse coming from her mother Ren. As a little kid, Akito was naive and bad-tempered but not evil; however, she completely SNAPPED and became a massive {{Yandere}} with some of the worst issues in the whole cast.]]
* Johan of ''Manga/{{Monster}}'' is an expert at driving perfectly sane and normal people to suicide through total MoreThanMindControl. From the little that is known of his past, his own sanity was methodically attacked throughout his childhood.
* This is the origin of Tomura Shigaraki from ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia''. [[spoiler:Years of abuse from his father, coupled by him accidentally killing his family, before killing his abusive father on purpose followed by being adopted by All For One and driven by his manipulations, drove him insane and transformed him from Tenko Shimura to Tomura.]]
* In ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' Tobi's talk with Sasuke about Itachi's true intentions ultimately led to Sasuke becoming AxCrazy and joining Tobi's side.
* Eto's torture and manipulation of Kanae in ''Manga/TokyoGhoul'' was done for the purpose of destroying [[spoiler: her sanity to the point of making her devoted to her and using her as a tool]].

* ''ComicBook/TheAvengers:'' The storyline ''The Crossing'' claimed Hank Pym's infamous mental breakdown had been deliberately caused by Immortus. ''ComicBook/AvengersForever'' retconned this out, with one of Immortus' henchmen saying that nope, Hank's breakdown had nothing to do with them.

* ''[[Franchise/{{Batman}} Batman: The Killing Joke]]'': In which The Joker attempts to drive Commissioner Gordon insane and fails.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* In ''Series/MyNameIsEarl'' the episode "Crazy Witch Lady" has the titular Lady driven to madness by the citizens of Camden treating her like an evil witch. It is implied she was just a regular quirky [[EccentricTownsfolk Camden resident]] before this.
* In ''Series/ThePrisoner1967'' Number 6 goes to work on the Number 2 of the week in "Hammer Into Anvil". (Arguably, breaking Number 6' sanity is the point behind the whole series.)
* Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine has this happen to Gul Dukat after he witnesses [[OutlivingOnesOffspring the death of his daughter]], at the climax of a long string of personal and career setbacks. His redeeming features and likable character traits had been submerged by his arrogance and ruthless ambition many episodes previously, but [[AlasPoorVillain it's hard not to pity him]] as he cradles her corpse and mumbles to her in a broken monotone. Dukat eventually comes out of his VillainousBSOD, but becomes steadily more unhinged and [[TheUnfettered even more dangerous for it]], even before he becomes the Bajoran religious equivalent of a DarkMessiah.

* ''VideoGame/DarkestDungeon'': This is one of two ways that the enemies can kill your party (the other being relentless murder). The entire dungeon is one big stress-fest, with critical hits that crush morale and enemy attacks solely dedicated to freaking your party out. If they reach the breaking point, they go insane. If they reach the breaking point twice, they'll havea heart attack and be immediately dropped to [[LastChanceHitPoint Death's Door]], or if they already were, they'll die instantly with NoSavingThrow. Good news is, there is a tiny chance that the heroes can [[HeroicSecondWind find clarity in the eye of the storm]], effectively making them even better than normal, but even that can be stripped away with enough stress...

--> '''Sheogorath''': ''"Madness is a bitter mercy, perhaps, but a mercy nonetheless. It is better to be seen as mad than hopelessly despondent."''
* In ''VideoGame/{{Ib}}'' the [[CreepyDoll blue dolls]] are capable of driving people insane. Late in the game they attempt to do this to [[spoiler: Garry]] and if they succeed the damage may be [[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan temporary]]..or [[DownerEnding permament]], all depending on your [[MultipleEndings previous actions]].

* ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}'' character Sigma was the victim of a FreakLabAccident when attempting to learn to control the power of a black hole. The exposure to the intense gravity altered him, granting him [[GravityMaster power over gravity itself]], but fractured his mind to the point where he's barely cognizant of the world around him.

* ''VideoGame/TheWedding'': Jack begins to become insane and mentally unstable, the longer the portal in his basement is open. Lack of sleep was part of the reason why the demons and monsters roaming his house made it easier for him to go insane. His notes also indicate that his wife apparently summoned some extra demons, specifically to terrify him, but [[UnreliableNarrator exactly how accurate that is, given Jack's mental state when writing that part]]...

* [[spoiler:Enzo]] in WebAnimation/Supermarioglitchy4sSuperMario64Bloopers "Birthday Freakout", after [[spoiler:Mario ruins his party by making the castle explode. Ever since then, he has been planning to assassinate Mario. This has been pushed to higher limits [[BigDamnHeroes when a Policeman arrests him]], causing him to plan {{Revenge}}.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheBatman'', Joker does this to Detective Bennett in a situation clearly inspired by ''ComicBook/TheKillingJoke''. Unlike his comic counterpart, this Joker actually succeeds and turn Bennett into a supervillain.

* The Fog of Lost Souls from ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' is a prison within the Spirit World for humans. The fog bombards its occupants with images of their greatest fears and failures, slowly driving them mad over the course of decades if not centuries. [[spoiler: Zhao has been reduced to a TalkativeLoon, and Tenzin and his siblings begin to fall to the Fog's effects after only a few minutes of wandering.]]
** The prequel series does this to [[spoiler: Princess Azula, who in the span of one summer loses the fear (and love, in her own way) of her best friends, learns her father will never love her no matter what she does, loses the Fire Lord title to Zuko in an Agni Kai, and has her philosophies proven completely wrong to her. Too many blows to the psyche send Azula into a frothing madness in which she's actually developed SplitPersonalities between the manipulative and the lunatic.]]
* Many WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes characters end up doing this to their antagonists -- of particular note are the mice Hubie and Bertie.

[[folder:Machinima]]
* [[spoiler:Enzo]] in Machinima/Supermarioglitchy4sSuperMario64Bloopers "Birthday Freakout", after [[spoiler:Mario ruins his party by making the castle explode. Ever since then, he has been planning to assassinate Mario. This has been pushed to higher limits [[BigDamnHeroes when a Policeman arrests him]], causing him to plan {{Revenge}}.]]
* In ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'' Season 11, Lopez Dos Point Oh becomes so stunned at how outrageously stupid and inept the Reds are that he hijacks a giant robot and goes on a destructive spree.
-->'''Dos.0''': ''(Spanish Subtitles)'' [...He's insane. ''They're all insane''.]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Original]]
* [[VideoGame/HalfLife Gordon Freeman]], in ''Machinima/FreemansMind'', starts to behave more and more erratically as time passes and things happen (not that he wasn't a bit of a CloudCuckooLander to begin with). He has a ''dead serious'' monologue about how he's probably going insane and in need of psychological assistance after it's all over.