I've always been compliant with my medication (accept forgetting to take the occasional dose here or there). But I have never really experienced really bad side effects. I'm not psychotic, so I don't really need an anti-psychotic, but I took Abilify for a while to augment the anti-depressants. I think it helped for a while, and I didn't have any side effects. But after a few years, I tapered down (with the guidance of my psychiatrist) and am now off it. It would be hard to deal with some of the more serious side effects for sure. But withdrawal symptoms can be pretty bad too, so I would taper first.