This study found that as a cause of death only cardiovascular diseases & accidents exceed suicide. However, death by suicide should not be regarded as inevitable because it is more preventable that most other causes of death. Depression is the most prominent feature of the prodromal period. Therefore, treatment & control should follow established psychotherapeutic principles. Industrial physicians can have a lifesaving impact on potentially suicidal industrial workers because of their contact with the working population. (LC) (8 refs)