When we were in Texas, I took capsules of St. John’s wort (in French, millepertuis). Mom says the flowers along the driveway here are St. John’s wort. In the US the capsules were sold as a dietary supplement and treatment for mild depression.
The capsules seemed to have an effect like ripping the tops off weeds. I ran out of St. John’s wort. The depression has come back stronger than before, though still variable from day to day. (Obviously this is a good day, or I would not have the energy to write this.) I feel as if the roots of the problem had thickened and gained strength, sending up even more of a thicket than last time.
In retrospect I could feel that even as the treatment was taking hold. It seemed to leave the core of the depression intact. Yet psychologically it prevented me from taking the problem seriously.
That could explain why mentally ill folks go off their medications. Imagine having trouble with paranoia, then getting a prescription for medicine (i.e. a toxic substance, depending on dosage) that leaves everything you suspect in place but makes you unable to connect the loose ends.
Depression should cancel paranoia out. Paranoia depends on you being the object of complex, probably nearly hidden, evil intentions, which implies that they would have to consider you worthy of being made the object of some sort of plot. Depression helps you realize that you are not worthy of that much attention.
Figments of a lack of imagination