[Pervasive refusal syndrome in a 12-year-old boy].

We describe a formerly healthy boy aged 12 years with a two-month history of severe coughing and abdominal pain leading to school absence. During admission he became increasingly immobilised and unable to perform activities of daily life, and finally simply adopted the foetal position and needed gastric tube feeding. Gradual restitution was achieved during a 34-month stay as an inpatient at a child psychiatric department. He fulfilled all proposed criteria of the pervasive refusal syndrome. At a follow-up at the age of 20 years, he was pursuing a normal independent life with his girlfriend and was attending higher education.