ABSTRACT:Using the Katz Adjustment Scales to measure psycho‐pathology, systematic samples of 108 suicide attempters and 42 persons arrested for assault were tested in Baltimore, Maryland. The subjects' scores were compared with ratings by third‐party respondents, who knew the subjects well, and with scores of 450 controls. Both suicide attempters and assaulters displayed significantly more psychopathology than the controls. The suicide attempters were differentiated from the assaulters on six Katz items: Helplessness, Anxiety, Nervousness, Depression, Stability, and General Psychopathology. An attempt was made to refine prediction and control of these two different life‐threatening behaviors by interpreting the data in terms of Henry and Short's concept of “internal res