In 1951 the WHO Regional Office for Europe as a part of its long-term activities in child health initiated plans for a meeting between paediatricians and child psychiatrists, at which they could discuss their respective roles and the co-ordination of their work.Early in 1953 an ad hoc committee was called together to discuss the possibility of holding a conference which would delineate the role of the paediatrician in the management of psychosomatic and behaviour disorders in young children. This committee, consisting of leading specialists in paediatrics and child psychiatry, under the chairmanship of Professor R. Debré (France), felt that any wider conference should be devoted to considering more fully the inter-relation of somatic and psychological processes in sick children, the respective roles of paediatricians and child psychiatrists in their treatment, and the working relations between the different disciplines responsible for the care of children.In order to avoid diffusion of effort, and to arrive as far as possible at practical conclusions, the study group that was subsequently convened in Stockholm concentrated on one important aspect of child care-the child in hospital.