We need a new and comprehensive understanding of suicidal patients, the message their behaviour emits and the best way to establish a therapeutic relationship.Statements containing suicidal tendencies should not be interpreted as signs of an imminent collapse, but rather as extreme messages of the person's mental state. Suicidality has two important functions: to secure the object and to change the object.Based on his long experience in the psychotherapy of suicidal patients, Jürgen Kind presents a new and comprehensive understanding of the message contained in patients' behavior. This enables establishing a working relationship in which suicidal tendencies become part of the communication.