Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-x4r87 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-27T13:12:26.127Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Impact of Political Violence on Mild Psychiatric Morbidity in Northern Ireland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Ed Cairns  and
Ronnie Wilson
Ed Cairns*
Affiliation:
Psychology Department, New University of Ulster, Coleraine, Northern Ireland
Ronnie Wilson
Affiliation:
Psychology Department, New University of Ulster, Coleraine, Northern Ireland
*
∗Correspondence
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Evidence concerning the impact of the violence in Northern Ireland on psychiatric morbidity is limited to studies examining admission rates and psychotropic drug prescribing rates; their results varied from suggesting no effect to indicating that greater levels of violence are actually equated with higher levels of mental health. The present study is the first to use a community sample, in which respondents (797) from two towns, which have experienced contrasting levels of violence over the last ten years, completed the 30-item version of the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ), and also indicated their perception of the level of violence in their area and how safe they felt this was to live in. Those who lived in the more violent town scored higher on the GHQ, as did women compared to men and those who perceived that their area had experienced more violence. There was also a two-way interaction, such that the small number of people, who perceived much violence in their area and who also lived in the more violent town, scored more highly on the GHQ. It is possible that the majority of people in Northern Ireland deal effectively with stress generated by the political violence, but do so by denying the existence of this violence around them.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 145 , Issue 6 , December 1984 , pp. 631 - 635
Copyright
Copyright © 1984 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Compton, P. (1978) Northern Ireland: A Census Atlas. Dublin: Gill and Macmillan.Google Scholar
Dohrenwend, B. P. & Dohrenwend, B. S. (1974) Social and cultural influences on psychopathology. Annual Review of Psychology, 414–452.Google Scholar
Fraser, R. M. (1971) The cost of commotion: analysis of psychiatric sequelae of 1969 Belfast Riots. British Journal of Psychiatry, 118, 257–264.Google Scholar
Goldberg, D. (1972) The Detection of Psychiatric Illness by Questionnaire. Maudsley Monograph No. 21, London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Goldberg, D. (1978) Manual of the General Health Questionnaire. Windsor: NFER - Nelson.Google Scholar
Heskin, K. (1980) Northern Ireland: A Psychological Analysis. Dublin: Gill and Macmillan.Google Scholar
King, D. J., Griffiths, K., Reilly, P. M. & Merrett, D. J. (1982) Psychotropic drug use in Northern Ireland 1966–1980: Prescribing trends, inter- and intra-regional comparisons and relationships to demographic and socioeconomic variables. Psychological Medicine. 12, 819–833.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
King, D. J. Mcmehhan, C. & Elmes, P. C. (1977) Are we as depressed as we think we are, Ulster Medical Journal, 46, 105–112.Google Scholar
Lazarus, R. S. (1974) The psychology of coping: issues of research and assessment. In Coping and Adaptation, (eds. Cochlo, G. V. Hamburg, D. A. & Adams, J. E.) New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Lyons, H. A. (1971) Psychiatric sequelae of the Belfast riots. British Journal of Psychiatry, 118, 265–273.Google Scholar
Lyons, H. A. (1972) Depressive illness and aggression in Belfast. British Medical Journal, i, 342–344.Google Scholar
O'Malley, P. P. (1969) Attempted suicide before and after the communal violence in Belfast. August 1969: A Preliminary Study. Journal of the Irish Medical Association, 65, 109–113.Google Scholar
Poole, M. (1983) The Demography of Violence 1969–1983. Paper read to the Centre for Conflict Studies. New University of Ulster.Google Scholar
Wilson, R. & Cairns, E. (1983) Measuring Psychological Distress in a Northern Irish Community Sample: A Preliminary Report. Unpublished paper. New University of Ulster.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.