This research examines the importance of assessing crisis patients motivations for considering a suicide attempt. Suicide attempters & ideators among 251 consecutive patients attending a crisis unit indicated agreement with each of 14 reasons for attempting suicide. Principal components analysis of these agreement ratings yielded 2 factor scales of motives: Extrapunitive/Manipulative & Internal Perturbations. Internal perturbations scores correlated significantly with patients’ wishes to die.