In closing, Whitaker set out to discover why schizophrenia had such poor outcomes and in doing so unearthed a Pandora's box worth of issues related to the treatment of the mentally ill in America. The information Whitaker presented in Mad in America is a detailed account of how attitudes help contribute to the mistreatment of the mentally ill, but above all it illustrates how poor understanding has perpetuated the stigma surrounding mental illness. Whitaker does a wonderful job outlining the issues with the mental health care system but stops short of offering any solution to improve care. There are many factors, both biological and environmental, that lead to schizophrenia and other mental illness, and I believe in order to reduce stigma
