The cases of two fifteen-year-old girls who attempted suicide, one successful, the other saved at the last moment, are presented for discussion. The authors note the family dynamics in each case and suggest that the suicides represented solutions of inner conflicts. The girls in each situation had introjected the unexpressed ambivalence of their parents toward their existence. The children were overtly loved and appreciated, but covertly neglected, in one case by narcissistically invested parents, in the other by parents who failed to protect their child from her own aggressive and sexual impulses. Suggestions are made for preventive work with similar families through combined individual and family therapy.