Human disease structure has constantly changed in close association with the times and society. Nowadays, there are so many "brain and mind problems" against a background of social issues. In developed countries including Japan, mental illnesses have seriously affected the lives and health of patients and their families. It is historically clear that stigma towards mental illnesses and a fragile mental health service have led to the existing situation. Therefore, to achieve the development of psychiatry in the future, we need to ruminate over the possibility of prevention, early intervention, and treatment and recovery to reduce stigma towards mental illnesses while regarding them as brain diseases. Based on the point of view that cognitive impairment could largely influence social functioning, and by introducing schizophrenia as a representative cognitive illness, we would like to discuss the remaining problems and future directions of psychiatry.
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