In 1911 Arthur Brisbane, editor of the New York Evening Journal, advised members of the Syracuse Advertising Men's Club to ‘Use a picture. It's worth a thousand words’. That is certainly true of this issue's disquieting cover picture ‘Child's drawing coded as showing bizarreness’, accompanying the article which is my Editor's pick below.

A strong visual style has been a feature of Advances from its inception. Coloured headings, boxes and tables have been used to break up the text and highlight key points. The aim in this is not only to improve readability but also to support learning. Diagrams in particular are a powerful way of conveying complex information in succinct and memorable ways.

In this issue, a good illustration of the effective use of diagrams appears in the discussion of bulimia nervosa and other binge eating disorders by Zafra Cooper & Christopher Fairburn (pp. 129–136). Their Fig. 1 shows the binge eating record of a patient with bulimia nervosa; Fig. 2 shows diagnostic overlaps and boundaries in a schematic way that is both concise and easily remembered; Fig. 3 shows the surprising (to me) relative prevalences of eating disorders in out-patient samples, with such a large proportion receiving the DSM–IV diagnosis ‘eating disorder, not otherwise specified’ and only relatively few being diagnosed with anorexia nervosa; Fig. 4 shows a diagnostic formulation. Another formulation appears in Catriona Kent & Graham McMillan's article on a cognitive–behavioural approach to treating medically unexplained symptoms (pp. 146–151). Many clinicians will be familiar with Chris Williams' Five Areas assessment model for CBT: their Fig. 1 shows a completed Five Areas template resulting from a collaborative therapeutic approach between patient and clinician.