The author argues that the attempted suicide is determined by 2 separate motives. She suggests that suicidal behavior is both the fulfillment of a punishment (self-punishment) & the fulfillment of a wish, & argues that probably no one finds the mental energy required to kill himself unless in doing so he is at the same time killing an object with whom he has identified himself, & diverting the death-wish which had been directed against someone else. (7 refs)