Medical, psychiatric and social histories were taken from 121 admissions for attempted suicide to County Hospital Wash. A 5 point ordinal scale of suicidal intent demonstrated that the severity of intent increased with age and women tended to make less serious attempts. 1/3 of completed suicides were psychotic; attempts more frequently had personality disturbances. Among attempters 3 subgroups can be identified; the manipulative “gesture”, the ambivalent and the serious.