Mojo
Exploring the Lingering Impact of The Troubles and the Complex Factors Fueling a Post-Conflict Mental Health Emergency
April 2018 marked the 20th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement being signed in Northern Ireland. This agreement aimed to bring an end to 30 years of sectarian conflict in the region, involving Irish Republicans, the British State Forces, and Loyalists. However, in the wake of the violence, Northern Ireland saw a shocking rise in suicides and widespread reports of mental health struggles.
In this article, we’re exploring data that reveals a significant mental health crisis in Northern Ireland. More people have died by suicide during the 20 years of peace than were killed in the three decades of conflict.
Before discussing the present situation, we need to briefly revisit the events that led us here. Firstly, Northern Ireland, which is part of the UK, is geographically located on the island of Ireland, with the Republic of Ireland to the south. The conflict over the region began in the early 20th century, when, after more than 100 years of British rule, Irish military groups, the Irish Volunteers, and the Irish Citizen Army, led a rebellion. This was inspired by growing Irish nationalist movements that emerged in the mid-1800s following the Irish Potato Famine.
In 1919, the nationalist Irish political party “Sinn Féin,” which roughly translates from Gaelic to “ourselves alone,” declared independence. It’s important to note that Ireland already had deep religious divides at this point, stemming from 17th-century conflicts between Protestants and Catholics. When Ireland gained independence as the “Irish Free State” in 1922, the predominantly Protestant province of Ulster refused to join. Consequently, the British government carved out the six most north-eastern counties of the new Irish state to form Northern Ireland, a part of the United Kingdom.
In Northern Ireland, tensions between mostly Protestant Unionists, also known as Loyalists for their loyalty to the British Crown, and mostly Catholic Nationalists, also known as Republicans for their desire to unite with the Republic of Ireland, simmered for decades.
The Troubles
Eventually, this tension erupted into a 30-year period of violence known as “The Troubles.” From around 1968 to 1998, “The Troubles” claimed more than 3,600 lives. There were brutal attacks from paramilitary groups on both sides, as well as atrocities committed by the British army. On one of the darkest days in recent UK history, 14 unarmed people were killed and a dozen injured when British troops opened fire on a peaceful civil rights march. This event became known as “Bloody Sunday.”
The Irish Republican Army (IRA) nearly assassinated the British Prime Minister in the Brighton Bombing in 1984 and launched bombing attacks throughout Northern Ireland and the UK mainland over those three decades. Throughout the 1990s, ceasefires were declared and then broken. By 1998, both sides had agreed to six principles of nonviolence, known as the “Mitchell Principles.” By May of that year, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland voted in favour of the Good Friday Agreement, which established a power-sharing government called the Northern Ireland Assembly. Officially, the region has been living in peacetime since 1998. But has the population truly felt that peace?
The suicide rate in Northern Ireland almost doubled in the decade following the signing of the peace agreement. In the 29 years leading up to the agreement, 3,670 suicides were reported. Nearly the same number was recorded in just half the time after the agreement. The region now has the highest suicide rate in the UK, with a 25% higher overall prevalence of mental illness than England.
So, why are more people dying by suicide during peacetime than during wartime? Between 2005 and 2008, Professor Siobhan O’Neill from Mental Health Sciences coordinated the largest study on mental health in Northern Ireland to date. O’Neill showed that this mental health crisis was not an isolated issue. She estimated that many cases of mental health problems are linked to the Troubles. “People seeing body parts, for example, after a bomb blast. People seeing dead bodies and bits of bodies—those are the sorts of stories people tell us.”
In 2011, research revealed that Northern Ireland had the highest rate of post-traumatic stress disorder among 30 countries, including South Africa and Lebanon, that participated in the World Mental Health Survey initiative. The data showed that 40% of the population had experienced conflict-related trauma. The mental health crisis doesn’t just affect those who were directly scarred by violence, but also the children of those who lived through it. From 2012 to 2015, researchers noted an upward trend in children being prescribed antidepressants. There has also been a steady increase in the number of children being referred for specialist mental health support over recent years.
It’s the impact of being parented by someone who’s been exposed to trauma… Young people who are parented by someone with PTSD can grow up feeling that they’re not loved…. There are also higher rates of childhood physical punishment in families in Northern Ireland where there’s been violence and trauma exposure, and we have data to show that.”
Similar findings have emerged from the children of Holocaust survivors. In Northern Ireland, they’re known as the “Ceasefire Babies.” Some researchers have suggested that the impact of trauma may be passed from parent to child biologically, not just behaviourally. “There are epigenetic changes that occur, putting the person’s baby at risk from birth. So, the stress response can be affected in the next generation.”
However, according to researchers, there are also other well-documented societal factors contributing to the crisis, such as income inequality, unemployment, sectarian tension, and social stigma.
Other Factors
Firstly, sectarian violence didn’t completely end with the Good Friday Agreement. There are still outbreaks of tension between Republicans and Unionists every year. To this day, physical walls divide Catholic and Protestant areas in Belfast, and the school system remains largely segregated. Additionally, the social stigma surrounding suicide makes it harder for young people to seek professional help.
Research shows that about 15% of our population are taking medication for a mental health issue, but very few people are willing to talk about it or share their experiences… In terms of our suicide figures, we see that only 30% of those who have died had been in contact with mental health services.”
Even if young people do feel comfortable seeking help, the necessary infrastructure is lacking. The unemployment rate among young people in Northern Ireland is 14.4%, more than 10% higher than the rest of the UK. One report indicated that 51% of young people believe having a job would give them a sense of purpose. Furthermore, Northern Ireland has been without a functioning government for over a year, following the most recent shutdown of the Northern Ireland Assembly, leaving health services severely underfunded. Almost a year ago, Prime Minister Theresa May promised Northern Ireland $70 million USD over five years for mental health funding, but the money has yet to arrive.
And then there’s Brexit, which isn’t making things any easier. Northern Ireland is at the heart of some of the most complex negotiations between Britain and the EU and doesn’t always receive the attention it deserves. It’s so complicated that it needs its own video, but it’s just another reason why the province faces a highly uncertain future.
