History Main / MedicateTheMedium

* An important point in ''TheSalvationWar''.

* Fujino Asagami of ''LightNovel/KaraNoKyoukai'' was medicated since she was a small child to seal her psychic powers, which had the side effect of making her [[FeelNoPain unable to feel pain]]. When she starts getting her sense of pain back in fits it also unlocks her powers and then you understand ''why'' they were sealed in the first place.

* ''Film/{{Constantine}}'': The title character and Isabel and Angela Dodson all first displayed their psychic abilities as children. Unfortunately, these abilities helped them to see the half-demons infesting the Earth, resulting in two of them being forced to undergo psychiatric treatment and later committing suicide.

* {{Deconstructed|Trope}} in ''Manga/KotouraSan''[='=]s DownerBeginning. Neither Kumiko nor her daughter Haruka are aware of the latter's [[PowerIncontinence inadvertent]] {{Telepathy}}, and the school told Kumiko that Haruka is being "a [[TheCassandra compulsive liar]]" even though [[LivingLieDetector she's really revealing everyone else's lies]]. After several hospital visits [[note]] (In the manga, they were actually [[spoiler:'''''psyche wards''''']].)[[/note]], none of the doctors could find anything truly wrong with Haruka enough to take her in because PsychicPowers are not recognized by the setting's mainstream science and Haruka wasn't sick nor delusional in any sense. [[DrowningMySorrows This failure drives Kumiko into alcoholism]], and [[IHaveNoSon Kumiko eventually disowns Haruka altogether]] since Kumiko could not understand Haruka at all.

In TV-land, however, this may run into the snag that the patient may just be [[ISeeDeadPeople seeing real ghosts and spirits]]. In this case, antipsychotic medication isn't likely to help. Mix in a generous helping of {{Masquerade}}, and the most likely result is that, in absence of an actual medical condition, the patient will be put on increasingly stronger medication. If they are lucky, the drugs will dull their sensitivity. If they are not, they will be institutionalized, to be tormented by the side effects of their medication and the apparitions.

* Unfortunately, the Russian joke isn't that funny once you know that haloperidol is often given to people with dementia who experience hallucinations. In some cases it helps, in others, not so much. In at least one type of dementia the hallucinations have a different cause and the haloperidol makes the hallucinations worse instead of better, and there has been at least one real life case with the doctor not recognizing this.

* Unfortunately, the Russian joke isn't that funny once you know that haloperidol is often given to people with dementia who experience hallucinations. In some cases it helps, in others, not so much. In at least one type of dementia the hallucinations have a different cause and the haloperidol makes the hallucinations worse instead of better, and this troper knows at least one real life case with the doctor not recognizing this.

* A [[RussianHumour Russian joke]]: ''Beware of haloperidol, it doesn't cure anything! It blocks chakras and blinds the third eye!''

* Zhegorz in the CircleOfMagic series spontaneously developed at a very young age the ability to scry the winds, hearing and seeing events that the winds had touched earlier in their travel. Unfortunately, this ability not only tends to drive people crazy on its own, but it's so rare that nobody realized he had it, so he wound up getting put in a lunatic asylum and drugged to within an inch of really going mad. Luckily, he eventually bumped into someone who had taught herself the same ability, and teaches him to use and control it.

A possible fate of {{Psychic Children}} under the care of MuggleFosterParents.

* In ''Series/{{Bedlam}}'', Jeb spends time in a mental hospital due to seeing ghosts, and his family think he's crazy. In the second season, Ellie refuses to take meds or get help with what her fiance thinks is a mental issue.

* Not exactly this but close, Cade Skywalker from the comic book series ''Star Wars Legacy'' medicates himself with death sticks (a narcotic drug) to prevent himself from seeing spirits of his ancestors.

* In ''Ghost Whisperer'', Melinda's half-brother was put through rough treatment in medical facilities because of his powers. Melinda escaped this fate because she lived with her grandmother who also had the sight. This key difference in the reactions to their powers defines who they become in life.

* A variant in ''Homestuck'': it's suggested that Roxy Lalonde's perpetual drunken near-stupor is keeping her from manifesting her powers as the Rogue of Void to their fullest. The Alpha session's "blackouts" grow more frequent as she sobers up.

* The setup of ''Film/{{The Sixth Sense}}''

* In ''Ghost Whisperer'', Melinda's half brother was put through rough treatment in medical facilities because of his powers. Melinda escaped this fate because she lived with her grandmother who also had the sight. This key difference in the reactions to their powers defines who they become in life.
* In ''Series/{{Bedlam}}'', Jeb spends time in a mental hospital due to seeing ghosts, and his family think he's crazy. In the second season, Ellie refuses to take meds or get help with what her fiancee thinks is a mental issue.

* An important point in ''TheSalvationWar''

* In ''DarkShadows'', the little boy, David, sees his mother's ghost, has a personal psychiatrist living in the house, and could be on meds. These measures help none. Victoria had it worse: she sees [[spoiler: her earlier incarnation]] and was abandoned by her parents on the grounds of being too embarrassing to keep, and thrown into a barbaric mental asylum with featureless, padded rooms, habitual straitjacketing and nasty treatments. And they helped none.

* ''{{Buffy The Vampire Slayer}}'' spent some time in an asylum after she saw her first vampires and made the mistake of telling her parents about it.

* A [[RussianHumour Russian joke]]: ''Beware of haloperidol, it doesn't cure anything! It blocks chakras and blinds the third eye!''

* This trope actually gets people killed in ''ANightmareOnElmStreet 3'', in which Kristen's disbelieving shrink has her sedated to force her to get some rest. Several of her friends die in their attempt to protect Kristen from Freddy.

* A [[RussianHumour Russian joke]]: ''Beware of haloperidol, it doesn't cure anything! It blocks chakras and blinds the third eye!''

Compare and contrast TheyWouldCutYouUp, for nasty things that happen when the doctors are all too aware of what ails the subject. Given the choice, the patient may decide on NoMoreMedicineForMe, unless they're better off suppressing the visions.

Compare and contrast TheyWouldCutYouUp, for nasty things that happen when the doctors are all too aware of what ails the subject. Given the choice, the patient may decide on NoMoreMedicationForMe, unless they're better off suppressing the visions.

Compare and contrast TheyWouldCutYouUp, for nasty things that happen when the doctors are all too aware of what ails the subject.

* Jem, the heroine of ''Literature/{{Numbers}}'', has a psychic ability to look into a person's eyes and know their date of death. She discloses this ability and ends up commmitted to a mental hospital for treatment. Unusually for this trope, not only is Jem's psychic ability completely eradicated by the drugs she's administered, [[IJustWantToBeNormal she's happy to lose it]].

* In ''TwinPeaks'', taking the medium OFF his medication was part of the process of solving the murder of Laura Palmer.

** In the episode "Normal, Again" it's strongly implied that the entire Slayer world she is living in is actually her delusion, including ''{{Series/Angel}}'' somehow.

* The heroines of ''Webcomic/CheshireCrossing'' have spent most of their childhood hopping from asylum to asylum; and initially believe the institute is just another one.