Using Goldberg’s General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) to identify potential cases of mental disorders, we screened 246 randomly; selected persons among the 116 616 people older than 65 in the metropolitan zone of Guadalajara; 86 subjects (35%) qualified as “cases”; this figure is much higher than that reported (20.8%) in the adult population in a previous study. Among the cases, 69% were female, 66% were widowed, and 50% were divorced; 44% had not finished gradeschool, 42% had no scholastic education, 54% were unemployed, and 40% worked at home. Factors associated with anxiety and severe depression, sleep disorders, psychosomatic symptoms, and problems in interpersonal relations were studied.