There is need for additional instruments to alert the clinician more effectively to the high self destructive potetial of some of his/her suicide-risk patients. In this study it was found that suicides-to-be tended to have higher plasma cortisols than suicidal patients who did not subsequently commit suicide within 2 years of the test. Discusses possible mechanisms involved & reviews some of the literature indicating that there may be a biochemical substratum playing a role in some suicides.