Greater understanding is needed regarding psychiatric disorders and their causes, as well as the effects of psychiatric care. Ethical issues ought to be discussed in terms of both the choice of questions and to the ways in which data are collected. So far, most evaluations of psychiatric care have focused on medical utility, while issues of autonomy and impartiality are sorely lacking. An important challenge for the future is therefore to support the evolution of the search for knowledge into a multidisciplinary activity in which values concerning autonomy and impartiality are also incorporated.