With the growing elderly population, the number of older patients with mental and behavioral disorders has increased. Psychotropic drugs are an integral part of treatment for these conditions. OBJECTIVE: This study describes the psychotropic agent prescribing for the elderly in clinic settings during 1996. METHODS: Data were abstracted from the 1996 National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey and the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey. All visits of patients 65 years of age or older involving psychotropic drugs were selected from the national surveys. National visit estimates and visit rates were derived based on the patient sampling weight to describe psychotropic prescribing for the elderly in ambulatory clinics. RESULTS: Psychotropic medications were prescribed in an estimated 16.55 million ambulatory clinic visits for the elderly in 1996. This represents 8.70% of all clinic visits by the elderly for an annual visit rate of 51.97 (visits for every 100 persons of 65 years old or older). Ninety-one percent of these visits were to physician offices and remaining visits were to outpatient clinics. There were some variations in psychotropic prescribing patterns between these two settings. Overall, psychotropic medication visit rates were greater in females, blacks, patients between 80 and 84 years of age, and patients from the West. The most frequently prescribed psychotropic medications in ambulatory clinics in the order of prevalence were antidepressants, antianxiety agents, and sedatives. Most of the visits (81.67%) involved one psychotropic medication and 3.14% of the visits involved two or more agents in the same class. CONCLUSION: The study revealed that psychotropic prescribing practices in ambulatory clinics vary with elderly demographics and clinical settings. Because of the increased risk related to the use of psychotropics and the prescribing patterns of these agents, future efforts may be focused on populations receiving relatively more psychotropic agents to improve health care outcomes.