Mental health experts say Troubles aftermath still having major impact on the lives of NI children
'Transgenerational' trauma contributing to high suicide rates here
Last updated 4th Apr 2018
Mental health researchers and clinicians have warned that violence experienced during the Troubles, could be a factor in high suicide rates in Northern Ireland.
We have the highest rates in the UK and in 2015 had the highest on record.
Earlier this year it was revealed more people died by suicide after the troubles, than were killed during the violence here.
Siobhan O'Neill is a professor of mental health sciences at Ulster University and says the trauma experienced by people during the violence, has been passed on to their children.
"We describe it as a transgenerational legacy, it's a community living in a society that has been hit by years of violence and years of conflict," she said.
"We've got to remember that a lot of people that are taking their lives nowadays, haven't been around at the time of the Troubles.
"So the generation affected by the Troubles, they're starting to die off.
"So the younger people who have died by suicide, it's not the Troubles directly, it's this indirect Legacy of the Troubles," she added.
Although environmental factors, such as living with a parent with mental health issues can be a contributing factor in a child's mental health development, Siobhan says there can also be a biological predisposition in children who have mothers with mental health issues.
"There is a biological link," she said.
Siobhan explained: "We find that in most mental health disorders, if you trace it back, it's the person's response to stress that causes the problems.
"When those stresses hit, it's the person's ability to respond and actually how their body's respond and how quickly activated that fight or flight response is for that person."
"We're starting to see evidence now that genes are switched on and off when the wee child's developing in the womb.
"The genes are switched on and off and those genes control that child's stress response, so how quickly activated they become and how quickly that dissipates.
"That's programmed and there's some...evidence showing the genes are switched off int he cells of the sperm and the eggs so we are actively programming the stress response of the next generation.
"The idea is that... we are effectively programming the stress response of the next generation and we're preparing the children to live in a world where they're going to need to run away and flight but of course that's a recipe for mental health problems here.
Prof O'Neill said living with a parent or a grandparent who has experienced violence could also play a part:
"On a very direct level being parented or living in a family where your parents and grandparents have suffered trauma, or have suffered mental health problems as a result of trauma, that...actually increases your risk as a child of having mental health problems," she said.
Dr Volodimir Bezulowsky is a psychiatrist treating people with trauma related mental health disorders in Northern Ireland.
He told us the affect of the Troubles is still very much alive.
"It's estimated that something like 40% of the population at the moment, have had significant exposure to trauma related to the Troubles.
"We know that that will have an impact, not only on their own mental health but also on the next generation, their own children, through complex pathways," he said.