In the past, some "mentally ill people were commonly portrayed as homicidal maniacs." Now, however, "they are also lawyers, doctors, mobsters, and detectives -- not always lovable folks, but increasingly understandable human beings."

The Times explains, "The shift in television characterizations might be a result of pressure from" mental-health advocacy groups, or possibly reflects the "fact that more than one-fourth of Americans, according to the National Institute of Mental Health, suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder every year." But, while "truthful portrayals of mental illness and its treatment may be getting better...television still has a long way to go" in realistically depicting the "pain and suffering" of mental illness.