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Chapter 34 - Case Study 1: The Omagh Bomb, the Mental Health Response, and the Lessons Learned

from Section 4 - Responses to Meet the Mental Health Needs of People Affected by Emergencies, Major Incidents, and Pandemics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 January 2024

By
Ciaran Mulholland  and
Michael Duffy
Edited by
Richard Williams ,
Verity Kemp ,
Keith Porter ,
Tim Healing  and
John Drury
Richard Williams
Affiliation:
University of South Wales
Verity Kemp
Affiliation:
Independent Health Emergency Planning Consultant
Keith Porter
Affiliation:
University of Birmingham
Tim Healing
Affiliation:
Worshipful Society of Apothecaries of London
John Drury
Affiliation:
University of Sussex
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Summary

In 1998, 7 weeks after the Good Friday Agreement was endorsed, a car bomb exploded in Omagh in County Tyrone, killing 29 adults and children and two unborn babies. The local health and social care trust mobilised resources to create a comprehensive mental health response to the care needs of the victims and survivors. This service was evidence based, outcomes focused, and research orientated, and contributed to the international evidence base through a series of research studies that helped to inform the further development of the Ehlers and Clark model of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), trauma-focused CBT approaches to treatment, and the developing concept of complex grief. The response led directly to creating a regionalised psychological trauma managed care network for Northern Ireland in an innovative approach of co-production (the Regional Trauma Network) and informed the implementation of a recognition scheme for victims and survivors (the Troubles Permanent Disablement Payment Scheme).

Keywords

CBTcognitive behavioural therapyNorthern Ireland Regional Trauma NetworkOmagh bombpolitical violencepost-traumatic stress disorderprolonged grief disorderPTSDThe Troubles in Northern IrelandThe Troubles Permanent Disablement Payment Scheme
Type
Chapter
Information
Major Incidents, Pandemics and Mental Health
The Psychosocial Aspects of Health Emergencies, Incidents, Disasters and Disease Outbreaks
 , pp. 252 - 256
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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References

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