Seventy-two spouses of subjects with recurrent primary affective disorders (PAD), were investigated for the presence of psychiatric disorders in their lives and in those of their first degree relatives, and compared with 71 spouses of non-psychiatrically ill control subjects. No difference was found in the risk for PAD; on the other hand spouses of affective patients manifested a greater occurrence of psychiatric disorders belonging to the affective spectrum, as did their respective first-degree relatives.