People who have lost a loved one to suicide are at an increased risk of dying by suicide themselves, a new study suggests.

According to the findings, when someone loses a loved one suddenly, they are 65% more likely to attempt suicide if the deceased died by suicide and not natural causes.

This brings the absolute risk of a suicide attempt up to one in 10, the UK researchers said.

They assessed almost 3,500 staff and students in a university. All were aged between 18 and 40 and all had suffered some kind of bereavement.

The study found that this increased suicide risk related to people who had lost a family member or a friend. It also found that those bereaved by suicide were 80% more likely to drop out of work or education.

The researchers from University College London (UCL) said that the results ‘highlight the profound impact that suicide might have on friends and family members'. However, they insisted that these outcomes ‘are by no means inevitable'.

They appealed to people who have been bereaved by suicide to seek support from those around them and/or organisations that work in this field. They also offered advice to people who may be around others who were recently bereaved.

"We know that people can find it difficult to know what to say to someone who has recently been bereaved. However, saying something is often better than saying nothing, and simple gestures like offering practical help with day-to-day activities can mean a lot.

"For example, when a colleague bereaved by suicide returns to work after compassionate leave then it could be helpful to ask how they are and offer to help them with their workload. Employers should be aware of the significant impact that suicide bereavement has on people's working lives and make adjustments to help their staff return to work," explained Dr Alexandra Pitman of UCL.

She noted that while suicide is still perceived as a taboo subject by some, ‘avoiding the subject can make a bereaved person feel very isolated and stigmatised, and sometimes even blamed for the death'.

"People bereaved by suicide should not be made to feel in any way responsible, and should be treated with the same compassion as people bereaved by any other cause. Suicide is a complex issue and there is often no simple explanation for why someone chooses to take their own life," Dr Pitman pointed out.

She said that while people often refer to big life events, such as a relationship break-up or a redundancy, as the trigger for a suicide, ‘this is far too simplistic and in reality, it is often an culmination of different life events rather than one individual cause'.

The researchers noted that while previous studies have shown that a family history of suicide can be a suicide risk factor, this study suggests that a history of suicide among non-blood relatives and friends should also be taken into account.

Details of these findings are published in the journal BMJ Open.