Where next for psychiatry: its past, present and future

Humanity is entering a new phase of social evolution with rapid digitalisation and increasing use of artificial intelligence in our lives. Psychiatric conditions also evolve with social changes. Like other branches of medicine, the management of psychiatric conditions is benefiting from recent growth in neuroscience, neuropsychology, genetics, imaging, and technological advances. Greater public awareness of mental health conditions is reducing stigma and barriers to care. On the other hand, as social structures change, idioms of human distress and help-seeking behaviours are evolving in ways that risk overwhelming healthcare systems. It will be a challenge for healthcare strategists to strike the right balance between funding care for common conditions (often symptoms of psychosocial distress) and care for those with severe mental disorders. The answer may lie in tapping into privately funded care for common disorders, rather than through publicly funded systems-which should prioritise care of the very unwell. However, there is a significant risk that this balance will be hard to achieve in the face of vocal expectations and consumer pressures. These gaps will likely continue to widen within and between societies, especially if recent trends of egocentric political philosophies take primacy.