Jameison reviews the clinical records of 100 patients who have committed suicide. He tabulates the diagnostic groupings of the patients, the average length of time out of the hospital and the various means employed to kill themselves.

He finds that, in general, patients whose infantile motives were based on murder, incestuous strivings or homosexuality employed active self-destructive methods, while those, in whom the motives of atonement, reunion in death or exhibitionism seemed most prominent, used so-called passive or receptive techniques. Failure of an attempt in the first group often initiated a period of violent aggression, while failure in the second group often was the beginning of recovery, complete or temporary, in the patient. The family histories of the patients studied showed a high rate of psychosis.