The incidence of deliberate self-injury without fatal outcome (‘attempted suicide’), and with consequent referral to casualty departments and wards of general hospitals, is a constant and growing concern for the medical and social professions. The situation may be described as a steady, never-ending epidemic, with no ready remedy capable of halting it. Indeed, for many hospitals all over the country the epidemic seems likely to overwhelm existing facilities for the treatment of psychiatric, and even non-psychiatric conditions.