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A rationale of some who become noncompliant with mental health treatment is the idea that we could fix our mental illness with "enlightenment." That would be a Buddhist type of enlightenment, or, for some, it might be prayer of a Christian type—or, it might be piousness of some other religious practice.  

My experience has been that it never hurts to learn more about how my mind works. For more than thirty years, I have done a massive amount of cognitive work, based partly on Buddhist concepts, and based on observing my mind.  

That said, I have found that there is no amount of meditation I can do that fixes the "hardware" problem that my brain has. While mindfulness can help with some of my symptoms and can also help in dealing with meditation side effects, trying to go without medication, if I tried that, would continue to be foolish, and a disaster.  

There is definitely a great role that meditation can fulfill in the life of a mentally ill person. It can help in the acceptance of the reality of being mentally ill. It can help tremendously in the absurd life situations that come with being mentally ill in society. These include the fact of living in poverty due to being unable to work, being at the mercy of government authorities, being shunned by those who are prejudiced against mentally ill people; and getting up in the morning to face another day.  

Many people have self-esteem issues related to mental illness. The common belief is that we are somehow "less" if we are mentally ill and if we have to take psychiatric medication to survive. Being unable to work, (albeit many mentally ill people actually are able to work) is yet another blow to self-esteem.  

Meditation allows me to dis-identify with the idea of having an "imperfection."  

Medication and therapy are necessary, despite all of the work I have done to make my mind better. You could see treatment as the foundation upon which meditation is constructed. If the brain is continuously generating erroneous data, meaning delusions and hallucinations, or, if the mind is unwilling to come out of clinical depression or mania, there is no point in trying to fix it with cognitive techniques, mindfulness, or meditation--the brain just isn't working.  

Should we practice meditation? I would give an emphatic yes. Should we continue to comply with treatment? Absolutely, yes. Meds don't usually block meditation. Generally, medicating the brain is what makes meditation possible, because the brain is working somewhat normally and isn't taken over by symptoms.  

Meditation can help us rid ourselves of behavior problems that continue to nag us despite being in treatment. By learning from mistakes, and learning how we can free ourselves of false needs, it makes it far easier to produce better behavior.  

Meditation, mindfulness, cognitive therapy and/or prayer, are all things that can help people with mental illness. Yet, let's not forget conventional treatment; these are biologically produced conditions.