It seems people get on meds to solve their problems and then start blaming the meds for their problems--first question is--why get off meds?
Depends on your perspective, I suppose. Some people think their problems would be solved with medication. They take medication and find it either doesn't solve the problem, or creates greater problems, or maybe it just plain doesn't work.
Separate from the mental health issue, consider something like the cholesterol lowering drugs, statins (I only pick them because they have been in the news so much lately). The evidence that they actually do anything to lower cholesterol is dubious, and the evidence that they can cause even greater health problems (memory loss, muscle pain, kidney failure, etc).
Another example I noticed is getting mainstream coverage now is the HPV vaccination; apparently it's finally coming out that (despite being in the vaccination insert since the beginning) that it only prevent something like 6 of the 140 different types of HPV, actually increases your chance of contracting HPV, and in many cases causes seizures, blood clots, and sometimes even death.
And then we all know of the various blood pressure medications that had to be recalled because they actually cause an increased risk of heart attack, or various other undesirable side effects, without actually preventing high blood pressure.
People are prescribed these drugs by doctors they trust; and in some cases (not all, and maybe not even most) the doctors prescribe the drugs because they think they're the best possible hope for solving the problem. I took the daughter to the doctor once because she was complaining of sore throat and had a history of developing strep throat. Doctor took a look and said "It's a little red, but the strep test is negative. What antibiotics do you want?" I said, "Well if it's not an infection, antibiotics are pointless, so none." I've started to call these types McDoctors; they operate like the drive through at a fast food restaurant. Someone comes to them with a problem and apparently the doctors think they're looking to find the magic pill that makes the problem go away, rather than actually diagnosing what's causing the symptoms. There's a doctor here with a Saturday morning radio show on alternative medicine (mostly just changing your diet/increasing your exercise/finding vitamin supplements to help) that typically comments on the majority of doctors working primarily on triage: someone complains of symptoms, you give them something to make the symptoms go away, rather than treating whatever is causing the symptoms. But, as soon as they stop taking that medication, the symptoms come back, because they haven't treated the underlying problem.
So, I can understand people wanting to get off medications if they're not producing the results they expected, or not treating the underlying problem, or causing side effects that are even worse than the original condition. I don't mind accepting a little baldness if the alternative is a medication that causes kidney failure, dizziness, black outs, and memory loss.
Again, the majority of my experience consists of health problems rather than mental illness, but I'm of the opinion that many of the same principles apply.
