Abstract
The author begins by reviewing the literature on contracting. It is suggested that no-suicide contracts may on occasion have the unintended consequence of militating against an exploration of clients' suicidal and self-destructive fantasies. A further consequence may be a failure to explore the existential realities of life and death. It is suggested that transactional analysis theory has a blind spot with respect to endings in general and death in particular. Suggestions for practice are made, including making no-suicide contracts when the client surfaces issues of self-destruction, rather than by rote.