What effect will happen if one takes prescribed psychiatric medication when someone isn't mentally ill ?

I live with a diagnosis, and there have been times I questioned it, but I still took my medication every day. The doctor might be right, so I took it. I can remember how sick I was quite a number of years ago, and that convinced me it’s best if I take the medicine.

If someone is genuinely not ill, I imagine the medication would make them feel heavy and sluggish.

Psychiatric medicines work by altering the balance of chemicals in the brain. That balance can be very delicate, so using medication that you don’t need is very likely to unbalance you rather than rebalance you (as it is intended to do). It’s hard to give more specifics than that because you will get different effects depending on which medication you take. But the short answer is that you are likely to give yourself a mental illness that results from having too much of the chemical you have taken into your body.

@Hawaii_Jake I’ve known so many people who have stopped taking their medication because they disagreed with their doctor or “felt better,” and always with disastrous results. Much respect for your very wise approach.