While psychiatry and psychology can be considered sister disciplines, the all too frequent family feuds have prevented an extensive exchange of theoretical and methodological approaches. This lack of close contact has been to the detriment ofboth disciplines. Psychiatry, particularly work on the aetiology of mental disease, may profit from psychological theorizing and experimentation on normal functioning. Psychology, on the other hand, can gain important insights from the study of disturbed processes and the availability of natural experiments and controlled intervention programmes. In particular, theoretical, experimental and clinical work on the antecedents, manifestation, and control of emotional states, including their pathological forms, would benefit from closer collaboration between psychiatrists and psychologists