A review of 46 subjects who suicided after having contact with a psychiatric hospital is presented. There were 33 men & 11 women, both with a mean age of 37 years. In comparison with a control group, those who suicided had a greater number of hospital admissions, a greater length of hospitalisation, were more often unemployed, had a history of more previous suicide attempts, more often received the diagnosis of schizophrenia or manic depresive illness, & were more often overtly depressed.