Divorce under Islamic jurisprudence may lead to stresses and psychiatric disorders different from those experienced by women in other cultures. We therefore studied all divorced, female outpatients (n = 67) seen in a psychiatric clinic in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, during two Hijra years. One hundred and five married female patients seen at the same clinic during the same period comprised the control group. The purpose of this study was an attempt to establish a relationship between cause for divorce and psychiatric symptoms, with special reference to the marital, social and religious customs of Saudi Arabia.