Decisions about the use of psychotropics for common psychiatric disorders in childhood were investigated using a questionnaire presented to Dutch child psychiatrists (n = 95 in final analysis). The endorsement of drug treatment was greater for psychotic and externalizing disorders than for affective disorders. A tendency was found towards overprescription in mentally retarded children with behaviour problems and towards underprescription in conduct disordered children of normal ability. A number of specific drugs received high preference rankings (e.g. the ssri's) in the absence of a solid database regarding efficacy and safety. Areas which are particularly underresearched are the drug treatment of affective disorders, agression and self-injury, and behaviour problems in subjects with mental retardation or pdd.