Shneidman reflects on the founding of the American Association of Suicidology (AAS) in 1968 & includes a summary of what was new in suicidology then. He reviews the many legitimate approaches to the study of suicide today & attempts to clarify the psychological approach with an examination of the 10 commonalities of suicide & his theoretical cubic model. The changing place of suicidology in the also-changing social matrix is discussed as well. (GW)