In a general practice population, 274 elderly married couples completed the Mental Status Questionnaire (MSQ), the 60-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) and the Leeds General Scales for the Self-assessment of Depression and Anxiety. The only relationship detected between cognitive impairment on the MSQ and psychiatric morbidity in the partner was a fairly weak negative correlation between the wives' MSQ and the Leeds Depression score of their husbands. These findings differ from those of previous studies, which have found high rates of psychiatric morbidity in the relatives of demented patients, and the possible reasons for these differences are discussed. Most importantly, other studies have involved the relatives of patients referred to psychiatric services, and these families may be quite different from those in which the demented relative is not referred to a psychiatrist.