Mental Illness in Ethilia

The old empire during its heyday was as kind to mental illness as it could be. It began a series of institutes for taking care of those with more extreme cases of mental illness. Under the reign of Emperor Kinsho the institutes saw an expansion and an introduction of an attempt to rehabilitate those that could be, to teach them coping methods or work arounds to their illness. He also began systemizing the integration of divine cleric orders into the institutes to attempt religious and arcane healings and exploration of healing methods.
During the decay of the old empire the institutes fell out of favor. Those that served the poorer populace quickly ran out of funding. A few were taken into the care of various religious organization, but the majority simply fell out of use and eventually were discontinued by the budgeters of the old empire.
Now Ethilia has a total of two institutes remaining. One is funded through the public funds, serving both wealthy families and poor ones, but it is usually filled for years. The other is set on top of a hilltop and is run by the order of the helping hand. A semi-formal institute containing followers of several different gods into a single organized force attempting to aid the poorer communities within Ethilia.
Traditionally mental illness has been handled by the family unit, with those people cared for by the elderly or young in the household while those of working age are preoccupied. Sadly this system falls apart more often than not, either the grandparents have passed on, or are incapable of dealing with the illness in the family. Or the family unit is simply too poor to cope with the ill person. Religious institutes have attempted to fill the void here to to care for those they can, and cure those they can.