Nearly two thirds of survivors, whānau and Muslim community members were diagnosed with an anxiety disorder, major depressive disorder or PTSD — or combinations of all three — within three years of the March 15 terrorist attacks, according to a new study on the psychological impact of the attacks.
The University of Otago study followed 189 survivors, bereaved family members and the wider Christchurch Muslim community, and looked at outcomes during the initial 11-32 months following the attacks.
The paper — The Psychosocial Impacts of the 15 March Terrorist Attack on the Christchurch Muslim Community — which will be published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, is believed to be the first international study to examine mental health outcomes after a terrorist attack targeting a Muslim population in a non-Muslim context.
Of the 189 participants in the study, 17% lost family in the attacks; 12% were injured survivors; 19% were non-injured survivors; 35% were family members of a survivor; and 35% were participants from the wider Christchurch Muslim community.
The sample ranged in age from 19 to 74 years, and 60% of the participants were female. More than 34 different ethnicities were represented, including African, Asian and Middle Eastern.
Lead author Dr Ruqayya Sulaiman-Hill, from the University of Otago Department of Psychological Medicine, said the attacks left a trail of physical and psychological devastation in their wake.
“The scale and violence of this act of terrorism was unprecedented in modern Aotearoa New Zealand, causing not only immediate, but as we have found, long term and significant mental health harm,” Sulaiman-Hill said.
Professor Richard Porter, head of the department of Psychological Medicine at the University of Otago, Christchurch, said many more people were suffering symptoms but were just below the threshold for formal diagnosis.
He said researchers had planned to focus just on those directly involved, but the community had told them the impact was far broader.
“It’s a very tight-knit community, everybody knew somebody in the mosques, and the livestream, of course, was viewed and was very traumatic.”
A high percentage of those with one or more of the diagnosed conditions did not access mental health support — around 75%.
“Sometimes that was because they didn’t want to because they felt it was stigmatised or didn’t meet their needs, other times it was simply that they hadn’t had a chance to access support because they were in such a difficult situation both mentally and in practical terms.”
The research is the first phase of a proposed longitudinal study.
Porter said this stage did not closely examine how appropriate the services offered were.
“Although a lot of thought went into what services could be provided, often the services were not as responsive to the needs of this community as they could have been,” Porter said.
There were very few Muslim mental health clinicians in Christchurch, and while clinicians came from other centres, psychiatric care directly related to the cultural needs of the community was limited, he said.
The ongoing media coverage of the attacks, and subsequent Royal Commission and other inquiries, were constantly retriggering the community, Porter said.
“In our research, we had to pause at certain times because of the inquiries, even in the last two weeks, with the coroner’s inquest — each time this happens it has the potential to retrigger symptoms of trauma for the community involved. It has been an ongoing, drawn out process that has been really very difficult for the community.”
The researchers had hoped to work with the study participants on a follow up, but had been unsuccessful in their application to the Health Research Council. Porter said he hoped they would be able to secure overseas funding.
Porter was also part of a team working on a study on faith based group therapy for young Muslim people, which, if successful, it was hoped could be expanded.
“It’s essentially group psychotherapy … but takes into account the Muslim view of psychological well-being.”
rnz.co.nz
