Reports on the demographic and clinical data on psychiatric emergencies at King Khalid University Hospital, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, between 1 May 1992 and 30 April 1993. The results are compared with those of a British study at the Maudsley Hospital Emergency Clinic. 257 consecutive patients (aged 12-70 yrs) were included in the study (140 males, 117 females). Most patients were below 40 yrs of age; women reported more health and family-related stressors than did men; about 40% of the cases referred by ER physicians to the psychiatric on-call team bore no working diagnosis; and the family was the main source of referral of psychiatric patients. Also there was a relatively low referral rate of alcohol and drug cases compared with that in Britain. A striking result was the appearance of more suicidal patients at this hospital compared with 5 yrs ago. However, of the 6 cases found, 4 were non-Saudis, which supports the low prevalence of suicide in Saudi Arabia.