Attempted suicide in Bangkok

39 Cases of non serious suicidal attempts were interviewed. The constitution of these cases was compared with the cases who carried out serious attempts and those who died in the emergency room. The non serious cases were young and more likely to be female who did not appear to be psychiatrically ill. If they were psychiatrically ill, it would be of mild degree. Only 60% of the cases were psychotic. They tended to harm themselves by ingestion of poisons or drugs. The act of suicide in those studied was mostly precipitated by anger, none tried to kill themselves out of desperation.