Bloody Sunday families still suffering distress

THE extended families of those killed on Bloody Sunday are still suffering significant psychological distress, a new study revealed yesterday.

Researchers at the University of Ulster found that as the Saville Inquiry, media coverage and films recreated the events in Derry of January 1972, relatives of the 14 men killed were still suffering the consequences.

The university's School of Psychology also discovered that some of the families' distress was comparable to that of firefighters or South African policemen who had witnessed violence.

The authors, Dr Mark Shevlin and Karen McGuigan said levels of distress varied according to how close people were to their loved ones.

There was also evidence of trauma passing down through the generations as the events of Bloody Sunday were recreated.

The impact of the shootings on 72 people 39 men and 33 women was studied.

Dr Shevlin explained: "What we were doing was using an established psychometric measure to see how people were still affected by Bloody Sunday.

"We honed in on two dimensions to post traumatic stress disorder intrusion and avoidance.

"That is how memories of Bloody Sunday intruded into people's cognitive thought processes and how often they tried to avoid them.

"Obviously there are constant reminders of Bloody Sunday and in some cases we found the level of distress at times compares to the trauma suffered by firefighters and by South African policemen who have witnessed violent events."

The team talked to 32 members of the immediate family of Bloody Sunday victims, 17 children of immediate family members, 13 cousins and 10 second cousins.

Only four of the immediate family members were actually present at the civil rights march on which paratroopers opened fire in January 1972.

Nine of the families of the 14 Bloody Sunday victims took part in the research.

The study has been published in the latest issue of the British Journal of Clinical Psychology.