This study analyses various aspects of social isolation in 74 schizophrenic patients who, at the time of the investigation, were undergoing out-patient psychiatric treatment. Most of the patients were disabled, had no partner and lived alone or with their parents. Only 57% had friends outside the family. Psychopathological symptoms showed little relation to the number of social contacts, though their presence was related to subjective feelings of isolation. Surprisingly, a positive correlation was found between the duration of previous in-patient admissions and the number of social contacts outside the family. Patients living with partners had the highest number of extrafamilial contacts, whereas patients living with their parents had the highest number of familial contacts, but felt most isolated. The results of this study show that the social isolation of schizophrenics must always be investigated from several viewpoints and at various levels; in particular, it is necessary to distinguish, on the one hand, between the familial and the extrafamilial areas and, on the other, between objective and subjective aspects of social isolation.