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There are a number of problems associated with mental illness. First, is that psychiatry isn’t an exact science - there seems to be a lot of “we know it works but we don’t know why it works”. Even if the science were better, psychiatry is one of those fields that is understaffed - just not as many medical students going into psychiatry. It’s both a very difficult field, and a very poorly compensated one.

Secondly, there is tremendous social stigma to being mentally ill. People generally aren’t embarrassed or stereotyped if they have diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, or suffer an injury or heart attack - they are “ill” or “injured”, not “nuts” or “loony”, they are regarded with compassion, not ridicule.

And that makes it difficult for many of the “functionally mentally ill” - those not incapacitated by their illness - reluctant to seek treatment or to be compliant patients. As for what family members can do - nothing really, unless you’re a medical professional. If you’re not, you’re no more qualified to address a family member’s mental illness than his/her physical illness. You can support their treatment, but you can’t be a substitute for treatment. Allowing yourself to believe that your compassion alone can “fix” them is a form of enabling.