BackgroundAppraisal of the future of adolescent psychiatry is required urgently, in view of the increasing scrutiny of mental health service priorities and the need for informed planning of psychiatric training and manpower requirements.MethodFuture developments are set in the context of the changing concept and connotations of adolescence, the history and present position of adolescent psychiatry, and the rationale for separate services.ResultsPredictions are derived using trend extrapolation, in relation to a number of factors likely to determine the future. These include the social value attached to adolescence and youth, the status of adolescent medicine, the definition of clinical boundaries, the upper age-limit of services, investment in prevention, postgraduate training, research, the evaluation and marketing of adolescent psychiatry and, finally, its recognition as a separate sub-speciality.ConclusionsPredictions suggest that adolescent psychiatry will assume an expanding clinical role and increasing academic influence in the 21st century.