For some time, the Editors have been considering the wisdom of devoting one issue a year of the Journal to a specific theme, with a call for papers on that theme, in line with the policy of several comparable journals from North America. We have recently decided to go ahead next year with the first such issue, but readers might wonder if we've jumped the gun this month. With just a handful of exceptions, the papers in this issue concern just two main themes. Before considering those, mention should be made of the annotation by Linda Dowdney on the subject of how children respond to the death of a parent. This is a topic of direct clinical importance, and her conclusions are clear. Children who have been bereaved can experience the same range of symptoms characteristic of bereavement reactions among adults, but their usual reaction is a nonspecific emotional or behavioural disturbance. A significant minority becomes so disturbed that professional advice on management would be appropriate, although the evidence points to this rarely being sought or available.