Bloody Sunday families still suffering says research

The extended families of the victims of Bloody Sunday are still suffering “significant psychological distress” 30 years after the event, according to new research carried out by University of Ulster.

A study of relatives of nine of the men shot dead by paratroopers in 1972 revealed that the level of psychological distress still being suffered varied according to the closeness of the relationship to the victim

Dr Mark Shevlin and Karen McGuigan, of the School of Psychology at the University of Ulster's Magee campus in Londonderry, researched the impact of the Bloody Sunday shootings on 72 people - 39 males and 33 females.

The researchers reported that members of the immediate families of the victims displayed the worst symptoms of distress, followed by children, cousins and second cousins.

In essence, 30 years after the event, the participants - with the exception of the second cousins - still display symptoms of psychological distress similar to those shown by people who have been directly subjected to physical threats or natural disasters.

The authors said that “the immediate family and, to a lesser extent, the children of the immediate family and cousins of the victims are reporting significant psychological distress”.

They argue that the long term effect of Bloody Sunday may be due in part to the cumulative stress factors such as the original Widgery Inquiry, the ongoing Saville Inquiry into the shootings, and recent film dramatisations of the event.

The results also tentatively suggest that the trauma is crossing the generations from immediate family members of the victims to their children.

The new research is published in the latest issue of the British Journal of Clinical Psychology.

It included interviews with 32 members of the immediate family of the victims; 17 children of the immediate family; 13 cousins and 10 second cousins.

Only four of the immediate family members interviewed were present at the civil rights march in 1972 when the paratroopers opened fire. Nine of the families of the 13 victims took part in the study.

(MB)