Suicidal behaviour has a complex and multicausal background and poses a challenge not only for psychiatry, but also for medicine in general and the whole society. The majority of suicides are committed by psychiatric - mainly affective disorder - patients, and even within this illness group bipolar disorder patients are at an especially high risk. Therefore among bipolar patients, reducing suicide risk, recognition and prevention of imminent suicide requires the investigation, description and understanding of risk factors, including those specifically associated with bipolar disorders.