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Nearly one in five U.S. adults lives with a mental illness, but according to the National Institutes of Mental Health only half receive treatment.

Long ago, treatment frequently took place behind the ominous walls of “mental hospitals.”

Times have changed.

Today, we deliver care in more calming environments, like the Crisis Stabilization Unit of University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics, and train providers to treat Iowans with substance use disorders in their own communities. Patients with treatment-resistant depression can receive noninvasive brain stimulation during outpatient visits that take minutes, rather than endure lengthy hospitalizations. And our recent study suggesting a new brain pathway for consciousness could accelerate better care for future generations of patients.

As we show in a timeline of our departments of psychiatry and neurology, which mark their centennials this year, UI Health Care has come a long way. Led by investigators in the Iowa Neuroscience Institute, we continue the search for clues to the mysteries of the brain in a quest for innovative treatments and more mind-mending ideas to deliver compassionate, high-quality mental health care.