By the term crisis intervention in connection with suicidal behavior the author understands a therapeutic intervention which should help the concerned individual to cope alone, with the situation which led to the suicidal attempt or to the acute suicidal behavior. With the help of his relatives, of a therapeutic or of a self help group according to the experiences within the psychiatric consultation service at the emergency station at the general hospital in Basel the multidisciplinary approach by a psychiatrist, a psychiatric nurse and, if necessary, a social worker, is indicated. Among the 848 patients who were seen in the years 1985 to 1989 for a psychiatric crisis intervention because of suicidal attempts, the age distribution showed that there is a peak in the age group of 20 to 24 (p less than 0.01). If, however, men and women are taken separately, a much broader age peak is visible in men: 20 to 34 (p less than 0.05). With respect to the diagnosis patients with psychogenic reactions and development included neuroses and borderline personality disorders are overrepresented (p less than 0.01). Also alcohol- and drug-dependents show a significant higher representation (p less than 0.01). The fact that only 17.2 to 24.5% of these patients had to be hospitalized during crises shows that in general the crisis intervention belongs to the ambulatory psychiatric services. A suicidal crisis does not mean that the concerned patients would definitely like to die, but rather to set a signal for the environment that they had not received enough human attention.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)