BACKGROUNDSuicide in psychiatric illnesses is mostly seen in mood disorders followed by schizophrenia. This study is an attempt to compare the risk factors associated with suicide in bipolar affective disorder and schizophrenia. MATERIALS AND METHODSThe study was a descriptive comparative study. Thirty patients with schizophrenia and thirty patients with bipolar affective disorder with suicidal ideation and/or suicidal attempts were analysed for their socio-demographic and illness characteristics. RESULTSAll the patients had suicidal ideations and there were 16 suicide attempters. There were more illiterates with bipolar disorder. The younger bipolar patients tended to have higher scores for suicidal ideation and intent. The suicidal ideation increased with the level of education (p= 0.027). All patients had depression. All suicidal attempts were associated with severe suicidal ideation. The severity of suicidal ideation increased with the number of previous attempts. CONCLUSIONThis study justifies the need for regular followup and screening for suicidal ideations in both schizophrenia and bipolar disorders considering the aforementioned factors. Of the various mood disorders, depression is most frequently associated with suicide. Untreated depression has a lifetime risk of suicide from 2.2% to 15%. Mania, though rare has also been shown to lead to increased suicide risk. Other, Competing Interest: None. Submission 24-06-2017, Peer Review 18-07-2017, Acceptance 24-07-2017, Published 31-07-2017. Corresponding Author: R. Saravana Jothi, Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry, Stanley Medical College, Chennai. E-mail: saravanajothi@gmail.com DOI: 10.14260/jemds/2017 Male gender, family history of suicide, suicidal ideation, psychotic symptoms, former suicide attempts, hopelessness, comorbid personality disorders, substance use and anxiety disorders have been found to be contributing determinants towards completed suicide in many prospective cohort studies. (3) In people with schizophrenia, it has been demonstrated that there is a suicide risk of 5%. (4) Risk factors in schizophrenia include early onset of disease, male gender, unemployed, higher levels of education, rural, comorbid physical illness, depression, positive symptoms and presence of insight. KEYWORDS Financial orIn a retrospective study by Takao Ishii et al, (5) comparison of the characteristics of suicide attempters among schizophrenics and those with unipolar and bipolar mood disorders found differing characteristics among the groups in relation to their age, comorbidities, severity of attempt and treatment interruption. The study did not include patients with suicidal ideations and included patients with both unipolar and bipolar mood disorder. This study focused on the patients diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder harbouring suicidal ideations and/or attempts in the Indian population. The study also tried to seek an association between suicide attempt and mania, for which much literature is not available.