The psychodynamic perspective seeks to understand the meaning of suicidal behavior in terms of feelings, motives, and their conflicts, in the context of past and present interpersonal relationships. Loss plays a particularly important role, both as an immediate precipitant of adolescent suicide and as a potential antecedent to the vulnerability to depression and suicide. Closely related to the development of attachment and maintenance of self-esteem are important self-regulatory capacities, such as the capacity for bodily self-care, self-protection, and self-soothing. Adolescents who are ambivalently attached to their families may have a propensity to turn to friends and romantic partners with particular intensity in order to find a substitute for the parental tie, but unfortunately frequently re-create the same stormy patterns in these new relationships. The psychodynamic perspective on youth suicide helps to supplement other biological, sociological, phenomenological, and nosological approaches.