Children who lost a parent to suicide were likely to have feelings of "utter abandonment" and often blamed themselves for being a "bad child", the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide has been told.
For adolescent children, the impact was just as devastating, increasing the risk that they would also have suicidal thoughts or begin self harming.
Giving evidence on the third day of public hearings in Canberra, Professor Louise Newman, a specialist in perinatal and infant psychiatry, told the inquiry treating a child or teenager for suicide grief counselling was very specialised and complex.
