Back to the future: Whither Psychiatry 40 years hence?

Psychiatry has had a rocky past, the future is bright, but challenges lie ahead. Advancing technology offers the prospect of re-defining mental illness based on pathophysiology. The prospect of personalised medicine offers the hope of more effective, targeted treatments. Exploiting innovation however, depends on evolving social attitudes and government policy, factors beyond the direct control of psychiatry. We must also defend the boundaries of psychiatry against potential fragmentation or risk surrendering our professional role to other Healthcare professionals and loosing a holistic approach to care and the therapeutic relationship, which should always underpin everything we do. As well as embracing the advances offered by translational medicine and Artificial Intelligence, psychiatrists must continue to influence, inform and educate if our future patients are to see real benefit from the innovation that is unfolding before our eyes.