Much of the initiative for this symposium, held between 6 and 8 January 1985, came from Professor Shridhar Sharma, President of the Indian Psychiatric Society, and the 38th Annual Conference of the Indian Psychiatric Society, at which there was a record number of participants, was held immediately before and in the same place as the Symposium. Many of the psychiatrists who attended the IPS Conference stayed on for the Symposium, where they somewhat outnumbered their foreign colleagues. The premises were the Medical College and Hospital named after Sawai Man Singhji, a Maharaja of Jaipur. The complex is a little way outside a crenellated pink wall surrounding the equally pink and fascinating Jaipur in Rajasthan, North India. The site, enhanced by a large marquee for refreshments, was very pleasant.