Mental Illness being cured?

During our independent reading segment of Global, I stumbled upon this book called Finding Fish. This is the story of Navy service member Antoine Fisher as he goes through his childhood, to time in the service, then life as a veteran. This novel was later adapted to a movie, staring Denziel Washington, which is one of his very notable movies. Unfortunately, I did not get a chance to finish the book, but a part in the beginning had really struck me. In the first couple chapters, we learn about Antoine's life as a child. Father is in the service, living with his aunt, mother is in a psych ward. When reading about the reaction between his mother and Antoine, it was something like the both of them didn't know who each other were, other than that they were family. It really got me thinking on whether or not hospitals for mental illnesses are really doing the job. Is separating a mother from her young son the right thing, and if it is, is it actually doing any good? That brought me to my next thought, like with Andrea Yates, is the mental institution she's in actually helping her? Since the last facilities she was in didn't help and lead to her killing her children, who's to say that the mental institution she was sent to know is doing her any favors. Just a thought.