It is not known whether the pattern of psychiatric disorders in medical outpatients in Pakistan is similar to that observed in the West. Consecutive medical outpatients completed the Self-Report Questionnaire (SRQ) to detect probable psychiatric disorder. The usual cut-off score of 8/9 was used. One-thousand and sixty-nine patients completed the SRQ (84% response rate) at four half-day clinics. Sixteen percent of men and 58% of women presented with medically unexplained symptoms. In men, 80% of patients with medically unexplained symptoms had an SRQ score of 9 or above (probable depressive disorder) compared to 40% of those with symptoms caused by recognized physical illness (P