It is a good analogy. And I think it is very, very important that everyone be an informed patient regardless if they have mental illness or physical illness or no illness at all. Because tomorrow you may have something and a doctor will give you a prescription.

The most important part of being a patient in the world is to be a responsible patient. And that means to stay informed. When the doctor says "you need to take this medicine" the first thing you should do is not go to the pharmacy and fill the prescription, but do your research. In the US it is the law that they must list every side effect, even if it effected one person. But the pharmaceutical companies still get sued because someone dies of a listed side effect. It happens all the time.

Don't just blindly trust what the doctor says about medicine, learn for yourself.