Simpsoncalifragilisticexpiala-Annoyed-Grunt-cious: Season 8, Episode 13

Mr. Burns: What's this strange sensation in my chest?

Mr. Smithers: I think you're heart's beating again.

Mr. Burns: Oh, that takes me back.  God bless you, Sherry Bobbins!

In this episode, Marge begins to lose her hair.  Her hair loss becomes significant and noticeable, and she goes to Dr. Hibbert to get checked out.  Dr. Hibbert tells Marge that there's no physical reason why she is losing her hair.  He is perplexed.  Then, Bart and Lisa call Marge (from separate lines) and request something to drink.  Marge grumbles, and a clump of hair falls from her head.  Dr. Hibbert, who had been observing Marge, then determines that the problem is probably stress.  Marge hires a nanny, Sherry Bobbins, to help her deal with the stress of taking care of the family, and her hair eventually grows back.  This episode showcases the negative effects of stress.  It shows how stress can take both a physical and an emotional toll on a person.

Brother's Little Helper: Season 11, Episode 2

"That's the end of your Looney Tunes, Drugs Bunny."   ---Chief Wiggum

After Bart wreaks havoc on Springfield Elementary, Marge and Homer agree to put Bart on an experimental, mind-altering medication so that he won't be expelled.  Principal Skinner shows that Bart's bad behavior affects other students negatively.  He shows Marge and Homer a chart of Bart's classroom.  The students around Bart all have poor grades, but the ones farthest away from him have good grades.  Principal Skinner notes that Bart clearly suffers from Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD).  He tells Marge and Homer that ADD can cause children to become restless and easily distracted.  While he is telling the Simpsons this, Homer is messing around with an item from Principal Skinner's desk and is clearly not paying attention.  This suggests that Bart is similar to his father and that there may be a link between genes and ADD.  

An important dialogue between the psychiatrist and Bart's parents occurs during the episode.  When describing the ADD medication, the psychiatrist says, "This pill reduces class-clown-ism 44%, with 60% less sass-mouth."  The psychiatrist proceeds to tell Homer and Marge, "The only thing more effective is regular exercise."  Homer gasps and shudders.  This dialogue pokes fun at the overuse of ADD medications and the ignorance of other potentially effective and safer methods of treating restless children.

After Bart starts taking the medication, called "Focusin," his behavior and school performance improve dramatically.  He does not get into trouble, spends time in his room reading quietly, and greatly increases his productivity.  However, Focusin does have some negative side effects.  Eventually, Bart becomes paranoid and wraps himself in foil because he believes that people are spying on him and trying to read his thoughts.  When Marge and Homer bring him back to the psychiatrists, the doctors blame Bart's reaction on a carboxyl group.  They plan to switch Bart's medications and start him on some of Focusin's "sister drugs."  Bart vehemently protests this switch, quickly gobbles up a handful of Focusin pills, and runs out the door, suggesting that Bart is attached to and dependent on the psychotropic drug.

In the end, after a series of unrealistic events, Bart is taken off the medication, and everything in the Simpson family returns to normal.

Yokel Chords: Season 18, Episode 14

"So you're saying I tell people to have a cow because deep inside, I want them to have a cow."   ---Bart Simpson

Again, although this episode does not centralize on health, it does portray elements of mental illness.  Bart goes to see a psychiatrist, Dr. Swanson, and he eventually starts to like her after she lets him play video games during an appointment.  The office is set up in the stereotypical way: a doctor sits in a chair, and a patient lays on a couch and pours out his feelings.  After Bart's sessions expire, he is distraught and feels the need to go back.  Marge saves up some money and brings him to one last appointment.  Bart uses this appointment to gain closure, and the episode ends with Dr. Swanson realizing that she is going to miss Bart, which is shown in the following dialogue:

       Dr. Swanson: Will we ever see each other again?

       Bart: Who knows.  Anything's possible.  One of these days, I might have a complete psychotic          breakdown.

       Dr. Swanson: I'd like that.

Grift of the Magi: Season 11, Episode 11

"Hello. I'm Dr. Stupid!  I'm going to take out your liver bones.  Oops, you're dead."  

---Ralph Wiggum

Although this episode is not explicitly about health, a significant incident does occur.  Bart falls off Homer's bed and lands on a bowling ball, causing him to break his tailbone.  Dr. Hibbert puts Bart's rear in a cast equipped with a "viewing window."  This allowed Dr. Hibbert to take off part of the cast so that the medical students could examine Bart's coccyx.  The medical students look with fascination and then proceed to scribble feverishly on their clipboards.  Bart is not too thrilled throughout this ordeal, but Dr. Hibbert justifies his actions by noting that they are in a "teaching hospital."  This incident shows that "teaching hospitals," can sometimes create awkward and uncomfortable moments for a patient.

Co-Dependent's Day: Season 15, Episode 15

"I'm in no condition to drive...Wait! I shouldn't listen to myself. I'm drunk!"   

---Homer Simpson

Towards the middle of this episode, Marge is caught drinking and driving.  The viewer knows that Homer was really the one who had been driving under the influence.  When the car crashed, he moved Marge into the driver's seat and ran away so he wouldn't get his license taken away.  Marge, who is unaware of this, believes herself to be an alcoholic and enters rehab for alcoholism.

After learning that Marge would be gone for 28 days, Homer drives straight to the rehab center.  He confesses to Marge that he had been the one driving that night.  Marge is furious, and stomps back to her support group.  She exclaims, "I need a drink!" to which Agnes replies, "Well you're lucky you're in rehab." Each member of the group pulls out a hidden bottle of alcohol and Marge ends up having five drinks.  

On the verge of drunkenness, Marge realizes that she is not happy. The only time she had been happy was when she was drinking with Homer.  After this realization, Marge tells the group that she is a, "Homerholic."  An interesting dialogue occurs after this statement.  Otto asks Marge if he can have some "Homerhol," but Marge reveals to him that what she's addicted to can't be drank, snorted, or smoked.  Otto ponders this for a moment, and then replies, "Hmm. Then you'd better inject it between my toes 'cause my mom checks my arms!"  I think this shows that codependency can be a major problem for addicts.  Not only is Otto an alcoholic, he is also a drug addict.  It is a serious problem, but on the Simpsons, it is projected in a humorous way.

Homer's Triple Bypass: Season 4, Episode 11

"Don't worry, Marge.  America's health care system is second only to Japan, Canada, Sweden, Great Britain...well, all of Europe.  But you can thank your lucky stars we don't live in Paraguay!"

--Homer Simpson

After eating an enormous amount of greasy, fatty food, Homer experiences severe chest pain.  He again experiences severe pain when he is scared by his kids.  At the nuclear plant, the stress caused by Mr. Burns' negative comments pushes him over the edge.  His heart goes haywire, and he collapses to the ground.  Mr. Burns tells Smithers to "send his widow a ham." 

However, Homer pulls through.  He wakes up at the hospital, and asks Dr. Hibbert, "Whatever doesn't kill me makes me stronger, right?"  Dr. Hibbert chuckles and reveals to Homer that he is weak and feeble because of his massive heart attack.  He teases Homer and pinches his cheeks like a baby.  Homer, who doesn't appreciate this, pleads with Dr. Hibbert.  "Remember your hippopotamus oath!"  

Later, Marge and Homer are in Dr. Hibbert's office.  Dr. Hibbert says that the surgery Homer needs will cost around $30,000.  Upon hearing this price, Homer has another heart attack right in Dr. Hibbert's office.  The doctor responds to this by saying, "I'm afraid it's now $40,000."

Dr. Nick ends up doing Homer's surgery for $129.95.  He had planned to watch a video of the procedure beforehand, but he had accidentally recorded the show, "People Who Look Like Things," over it.  

Before his surgery, Homer prays in his hospital bed. I think a lot of people turn to God in times of distress, and illness can be extremely distressing.

Dr. Nick is successful only because of Lisa's instructions on how to perform the surgery.  Homer makes it through the surgery unscathed, and life with the Simpsons goes back to normal.

Eight Misbehavin': Season 11, Episode 7

"They're a ravenous swarm of locusts, just eating and screaming and grabbing and poking and pulling and drooling...and two have cradle rash.  How do you get cradle rash when you sleep in a suitcase?"

--Apu

This episode reveals the consequences of fertility drugs.  Apu and Manjula Nahasapeemapetilon are frustrated because they have been unable to conceive a child.  Despite Homer's moronic (but well intentioned) attempts at assisting them, the Simpsons and the Nahasapeemapetilons eventually turn to fertility drugs.  Manjula secretly takes these drugs, Apu slips them into her breakfast squishy, and Marge, Bart, and Homer also slip Manjula fertility drugs.  According to Homer, his drugs tasted like strawberry.  He refers to them as, "ovulicous."  This large dosage of fertility drugs results in multiple births, and the Nahasapeemapetilons end up having eight children.  

Homer, who is overwhelmed at merely the thought of eight kids, exchanges this dialogue with Marge:

Homer: "I'm sterile, right baby doll?"

Marge: "Yes dear, from the nuclear plant."

Homer: "Beautiful."

Initially, everything goes great for the Nahasapeemapetilons.  The children are a huge media hit, and the the family is showered with gifts and support from many corporate companies.  However, when a mother in Shelbyville gives birth to 9 babies, the attention and products are whisked away from the Nahasapeemapetilons and given to the Shelbyville mother.  

Apu and Manjula struggle to keep their heads above water.  All eight children develop colic, making the situation even more difficult for their parents.  Apu and Manjula are overtired, overwhelmed, and inadequately prepared for this many newborns. 

Eventually, Apu ends up agreeing to exhibiting his octuplets in a zoo.  In the end, however, he and Homer steal them back.  After they are caught, Homer decides to offer himself up for the cause.  Instead of giving the babies back to the zoo (due to the contract that Apu and Manjula had previously signed), Homer agrees to ride around on a tricycle while holding Butch Patrick on his back and being bitten by cobras simultaneously.  This act will make up for the loss of the octuplets as a zoo attraction.  Apu notes that Homer is quite a good friend.