Dramatic clinical presentation of parasuicide tends to deflect attention from the repetitive pattern of this behaviour in many patients. This study of annual cohorts of parasuicides for 1972, 1977 & 1982 found that for certain subgroups of the population, repeaters were more common than first-ever patients. It is suggested that habitual repeaters require closer study & that the factors which lead to initiation into a parasuicidal career are not necessarily those which conduce to repetition.