This study measured the self-esteem of 141 psychiatric out-patients with a variety of DSM-III-R diagnoses. The results showed that there were wide variations in the level of self-esteem between different diagnostic groups. The patients with depression had lower self-esteem than most of the other patient groups except those with personality disorders. The groups whose self-esteem was highest were those with anxiety disorders. Nonetheless, all patient groups scored more than normal populations in previous studies, suggesting that low self-esteem may be involved in a wide range of psychiatric conditions.