Patients with mental disorders who work. Mental illness can devastate persons intellectually and emotionally; with maintenance therapy, however, certain patients with chronic mental illnesses are capable of holding a variety of jobs. From the total population of psychiatric patients in our VA outpatient clinic, the 87 who were gainfully employed were identified to determine common factors among them. Affective disorders were the predominant diagnoses among patients who worked, while schizophrenia was more common among those who did not. Alcoholism was diagnosed in approximately 25% of working and nonworking groups. 