Despite medical, technological, and humanitarian advances, the criminalization of those with serious mental illness continues. This is not an isolated phenomenon. The benefits of treatment reform and innovation are difficult to maintain or sometimes outright harmful. Across time and geography, the care of those with serious mental illness tends towards maltreatment, be it criminalization or other forms of harm. We present a social history of serious mental illness, along with the idea that the treatment of serious mental illness is a Sisyphean task-perpetually pushing a boulder up a hill, only for it to roll down and start again. The history is provided as a basis for deeper reflection of treatment, and treatment reform, of those with serious mental illnesses.
Keywords: Sisyphus; criminalization; history; maltreatment; mental health; psychosis; serious mental illness; social.