This letter to the editor comments on a paper by De Leo et al concerning the impact of telephone helpline services on suicide in an elderly population of Northern Italians. The current author discusses the role of depression in elderly suicide. He identifies the telephone helpline described by De Leo et al as one approach to counteracting the effects of depression in the elderly, & compares it with the use of qigong as a psychosocial intervention among elderly Chinese at risk. (3 refs)