Many routine but important medical services today are far more convenient to obtain than they were a generation ago. So how could these types of conveniences transfer to mental health services?

Communities need specially-designed psychiatric emergency departments. Private insurance companies should provide more and better community care for persons with psychiatric problems, and more community alternative programs for persons in emotional distress should be developed.

Bud Clayman, the subject of a new movie about thriving with and despite mental illness, has given us a message of hope. But for those that look beyond Bud and his family, we are left with the inescapable task of making what was possible for him possible for everyone so afflicted.

The good news is that improvement rates for serious mental illnesses rival or surpass those for chronic physical diseases. The bad news is that 80 percent of Americans with treatable mental disorders do not have their conditions detected.