Outlines the state of the art of Egyptian psychiatry and mental health. Topics discussed include recent developments in mental hospitals, psychiatric outpatient facilities, child psychiatry, epilepsy centers, mental deficiency, juvenile and adult crime, drug addiction, female circumcision, and acceptance of mental health as part of public health. Affecting all the above and posing new problems are attitudes and life-styles from a long tradition of close families in rural villages. These ideas and cultural habits are increasingly coming into conflict with industrialization, urbanization, and women's emancipation. One hope lies in attaining psychosocial symbiosis between individual and community.