We aim to raise awareness of dowry abuse as a practice, which is a lesser-known form of family violence, and highlight its profound impact on mental health in migrant communities. There remains an urgent need for action from mental healthcare providers, and additional legal and policy reforms, to address this harmful practice.

In this editorial, three technological laggards reflect on the potential promises and pitfalls of artificial intelligence in psychiatry, as explored in recent BJPsych publications. We argue that the rapid changes driven by artificial intelligence are revealing underlying vulnerabilities within our profession. More importantly, we believe these shifts pose a fundamental challenge to our specialty: can we, as psychiatrists, evolve beyond mere intelligence to practice with genuine wisdom?

The chatbot psychosis phenomenon is no longer just a hypothesis. We call for interdisciplinary frameworks to systematically investigate individual characteristics and artificial intelligence related factors which (on their own or in combination) cause or contribute to this phenomenon, underlying mechanisms and the psychoeducation, ethics, policy and practices needed to reduce harm.

Across psychiatry, neurodivergence is highly prevalent yet under-recognised. Psychiatric vulnerability, treatment response and prognosis are critically shaped by co-occurring neurodevelopmental conditions, including attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism and tic disorder. Clinical recognition of neurodivergence and effective management can mitigate mental illness, prevent suicide and reduce societal costs. Services and training should adapt accordingly.

Schizophrenia trials have been too small, short and exclusionary, leaving the most disabled patients under-represented and key outcomes neglected. Future research should match the illness burden through sustained funding, representative recruitment, multidomain assessment, and adaptive, platform and SMART designs that test treatments efficiently and produce evidence relevant to patients’ lives.

Williams et al identify key components of Early Intervention in Psychosis (EIP) services (small care coordinator caseloads, clozapine use and physical healthcare) to improve outcomes. Translating these components into clinical high-risk services could strengthen preventive psychiatry, alongside dedicated funding and integration with EIP for a unified early detection/intervention pathway.

Obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) is often missed and misdiagnosed. This Editorial reminds the reader to screen for obsessions and compulsions; how OCD can be distinguished from other disorders characterised by recurrent thoughts and repetitive behaviours; and to facilitate better access to effective treatments for this often distressing and disabling disorder.

Shame is a pervasive, multidimensional emotion influencing brain, body and social life. While shame can foster accountability, its toxic forms drive stigma, withdrawal and mental illness. We call for systemic, culturally sensitive interventions to transform phatological shame into healing, fostering empathy, accountability and psychological safety in care, education and policy.

The death of chess Grandmaster and content creator Daniel Naroditsky sparked heated debate on the impact of cyberbullying on his mental health in the last 2 years of his life. Cyberbullying remains a widespread public health problem, with strong associations to mental disorders and significant relevance to psychiatric practice worldwide.

The Depression Genetics in Africa (DepGenAfrica) study seeks to address the underrepresentation of African populations in psychiatric genomics by investigating the genetic basis of major depressive disorder in three African countries: Ethiopia, Malawi and Nigeria. This Editorial reflects on lessons from project set-up and offers recommendations, highlighting trust, communication, ethical oversight, data tools, workforce training and resource governance.

Proposed assisted dying legislation does not adequately consider comorbid mental illness, such as depression, which variably compromises decision-making capacity. Current tests of capacity are limited in their ability to assess any such compromise, and therefore we highlight these concerns and put forward suggestions as to how this may be rectified.

Increased age-related biological changes have been causally linked to various pathologies in the brain, including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases. There is also evidence that schizophrenia could be included in this group of brain disorders that may actually be manifestations of a broader multisystemic premature ageing phenotype.

This editorial argues that camouflaging, as developed in autism research, does not transfer coherently to attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The executive functions required for sustained symptom concealment are precisely those impaired in ADHD. Current measures lack ADHD-specific validity, and compensatory behaviours should not be reclassified as camouflaging without dedicated theory, operational definitions and validated measurement.

Assisted dying debates overlook the powerful unconscious forces that shape end-of-life decision-making. These dynamics influence personal, clinical and societal judgements and may be contributing to the rapid international expansion of assisted dying practices. Strengthening safeguards requires acknowledging these forces and integrating structured psychological assessment, clinician support and reflective practice to reduce unconscious bias and enhance the reliability, transparency and ethical integrity of decisions.

We review the ambiguous legacy of Emil Kraepelin. He established an approach that secured psychiatry’s place as a medical specialty, and his methodology has dominated the profession and defined its long 20th century, 1899–2026. However, his eugenic views weigh heavily because of the catastrophes in which German psychiatry was implicated and to which it contributed actively during the Nazi era that followed. Furthermore, his project to establish mental illness in the form of discrete natural kinds has failed in the light of scientific progress. Psychiatry must embrace the complexity of mental illness and engage more deeply with the inherently fuzzy realms of language, culture, technological change and political power. This shift should bear more strongly on psychiatry’s curriculum, research priorities, continuing professional development, practice, ethics and public engagement.

We propose a bio-psycho-socio-anthropological (BPSA) model that mainstreams cultural formulation and power-aware practice across training, interventions and evaluation. Contrasting it with transcultural and community models, we show UK examples where embedding cultural insight in statutory decisions reduced detentions and improved engagement, aligning with national equality priorities.