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On the basis of psychotherapeutic experience with a selected group of fifteen suicidal patients, the author demonstrates that psychoanalytic suicide theories do not differentiate between the sexes and therefore can only be partially applied to the suicidal tendencies among this group of patients. Gerisch attempts to describe the specifically female form of suicidal tendencies, in line with more recent psychoanalytic theories of female behavior. In general this study agrees with Henseler's interpretation, in which attempted suicide is an expression of a narcissistic crisis. However, because of differences in suicidal behavior of the sexes, it appears necessary and meaningful to indicate precisely the connection between narcissistic development on the one hand, and the formation of sexual identity on the other. Through the use of an interpretation framework which differentiates between the sexes, the female patients' suicidal tendencies were revealed to be the result of unsuccessful individuation from the mother as well as complex female identity problems, while the suicidal act manifested an analogous desire for liberation and autonomy. As this study deals with the psychodynamics among a subgroup of women, it would be of interest to clarify whether these specific considerations regarding suicidal behavior can be applied to other female patients. In addition, it would be necessary to examine whether the high susceptibility of women to attempt suicide does not generally call for a differentiation in interpretation of theory between the sexes.