Cognitive therapy research has yielded a taxonomy of suicidal behaviors, scales for assessing suicidal ideation & intent & a model of suicidal wishes & behavior that identified hopelessness as a key psychological variable in suicide prediction. The establishment of hopelessness as a suicide risk factor has been supported most strongly by prospective studies of inpatients & outpatients. A cutoff score of 9 on the Beck Hopeless Scale appears to be predictive of eventual suicide. (43 refs.)