This volume resulted from the First European Symposium on Em- pirical Research into Suicidal Behavior. The symposium was initi- ated by the Study Group on Suicidal Behavior (Arbeitsgemein- schaft zur Erforschung suizidalen V erhaltens) in collaboration with the German Society for the Prevention of Suicide (Deutsche Ge- sellschaft fUr Selbstmordverhutung). The local organization of this symposium, which took place in Munich, was performed by the staff of the Psychiatric Department of the University of Technol- ogy, Munich (Head: Prof. H. Lauter). This volume contains contributions held at the symposium as well as papers especially prepared for this book. It thus fulfills the aim of providing an overview of the current state of research in the field of empirical suicidology with respect to epidemiology, bio- logical and psychological risk factors, follow-up, and treatment evaluation. We are grateful to all who contributed to this book by submitting papers or making critical comments. We would especially like to thank Mrs. D. Keck for her valuable cooperation. We have to thank the following pharmaceutical companies for financial support: Organon (Munchen), Ciba Geigy (Frankfurt), Tropon (Kaln), Galenus (Mannheim), Wander (Nurnberg).