Introduction: The Lancet Psychiatry Standing Commission
The COVID-19 pandemic represented a watershed moment for global healthcare, particularly within the field of mental health. In 2020, a Position Paper published in The Lancet Psychiatry outlined an initial research agenda to understand the pandemic’s psychiatric fallout. This led to the formation of the interdisciplinary Lancet Psychiatry Standing Commission in 2022, a body dedicated to refining these recommendations based on emerging evidence. This first Series paper from the commission focuses on the evolution of clinical mental health care delivery, moving beyond the initial panic to a structured analysis of how systems adapted—and where they failed.