ECT, in a refined and safer mode is also practiced today. Several serendipitous discoveries in the next several years nearly revolutionized the treatment of the mentally. New medications were discovered to help in most cases of severe mental conditions, and more new ones are being found. Lifelong institutionalization is rare as patients recover enough to be cared for in their own homes and communities. Community help for the mentally ill has progressed enormously in the past even twenty years.
Researchers continue to look at the genetics in an attempt to identify the cause.
Though it may not come in our time, it will for our children and their children. The stigma of mental illness has not been eradicated, though the move to equate mental illness with physical illness has resulted in greater understanding on some fronts. We still have a long way to go in this area.