This article discusses the adolescent behavior, of suicide attempts, to alert others to his depressive plight. There are approximately six to ten suicide attempts for every actual suicide in the general population. In the adolescent age range this ratio is estimated between 50 and 100 to one. The suicidal adolescent needs aid in reconciling incompatible motives. The wish to die and express his sense of basic badness or the longing to survive and demonstrate his desirability and worth.