Ethical aspects related to mental health was the topic of aconference organised by the Nordic Committee on Bioethicsin Helsinki in the fall of 2011. This conference summaryhighlights the main challenges and issues facing researchers,policy makers and practitioners who deal with mental healthissues. The committee invited a broad range of experts totalk about the psychological, historical, social, cultural andbiological perspectives related to mental health. The heated debates which are taking place in various disciplineson the causes and the best ways for treating variousconditions and problems were brought forth in the presentations.The Committee hopes that this summary will serveas a resource to people who are interested in the developmentof possible ways for tackling mental health problems in theNordic countries, by identifying some of the key issuesinvolved and the challenges that lay ahead.