"If they'll see it as a betrayal of confidence,it will undermine the relationship," Catlin said."You should try to get them to be aware that thisis something they can be helped with."

A peer counselor at Room 13 said yesterday thatfriends of potentially suicidal students shouldconfront the issue before a problem occurs.

"If you feel a person is suicidal, you don'twant to try to avoid the issue," he said. "Youwant to use the word `suicide' and talk about itdirectly."

A report by the Journal of College StudentPsychotherapy last year found that about eight in100,000 college students commit suicide, and thatmale students are twice as likely to killthemselves as female students.

Reardon said the Cambridge Fire Departmentdeals with many suicide attempts throughout theyear, both by college students and city residents.

"There could be hundreds of suicide attempts inthe general [Cambridge] population each year,"Reardon said. "Over the holidays, suicide attemptsincrease. It can also relate to exam time,especially finals with certain people."

But Lt. Lawrence J. Murphy, acting chief of theHarvard University Police Department, said suicideattempts occur infrequently at Harvard.

"I don't think attempts occur that often,"Murphy said. "I'd have to say this is uncommon."

Dean of the College L. Fred Jewett '57 saidwhile there are many reasons for suicide attempts,students rarely kill themselves.

"It usually involves people who are depressedor under pressure," Jewett said. "They might bepersonal problems that are not related to school.There isn't a single pattern, but fortunately,there are actually few successful [suicide]attempts."

Catlin said an important distinction must bemade between those who actually kill themselvesand those who attempt to do so.

"People that really commit suicide are peoplethat want to die," Catlin said. "People that makesuicide attempts are sending messages that theyneed help.