A more rigorous and scientific approach to characterisation and diagnosis of mental illness, particularly among children, could help reduce the number of patients who do not respond to treatment. That was the view put forward by Professor Ian Goodyer, Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Cambridge University in his Keynote Lecture at the 10th Latest Advances in Psychiatry Symposium held in London in March. Steve Titmarsh reports. Copyright © 2011 Wiley Interface Ltd