Survivors of Christchurch mosque attack face ongoing mental health problems: study

The project, funded by the Health Research Council of New Zealand and the Canterbury Health Research Foundation, was developed in collaboration with Muslim researchers and involved active community participation and collaboration with local Muslims and the Muslim Reference Group.

Research published in the journal Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatryis the first phase of a proposed longitudinal study examining the mental health effects of 189 survivors of terrorist attacks, family members of the victims and the wider Muslim community.

This report describes results in the first 11 to 32 months after the attack on two city mosques.

This is believed to be the first international study to examine the psychological effects of a terrorist attack targeting a Muslim population in a non-Muslim context.

Lead author Dr Ruqaiya Sulaiman-Hill, from the campus’s Department of Psychological Medicine, said the attacks left a trail of physical and psychological devastation, devastating the peaceful local Muslim community.

“The scale and brutality of this terrorist attack was unprecedented in modern Aotearoa New Zealand, and it caused not only immediate but, as we have discovered, long-term and significant harm to mental health,” says Sulaiman-Hill.

Of the 189 study participants, 17% lost family as a result of assault; 12% were injured; 19% of survivors were unharmed; 35% were family members of the survivor; and 35% were participants from the wider Christchurch Muslim community.

The age of the sample ranged from 19 to 74 years, and 60% of participants were women.

The results show a high prevalence of mental health disorders, with 61% suffering from anxiety disorder, major depressive disorder (MDD) or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) some time after the attacks.

A total of 31% were diagnosed with an anxiety disorder; 43% with MDD and 32% with PTSD. Many had combinations of more than one of these conditions.

Study co-author Professor Caroline Bell said they found that those who had lost a family member or survived assault were more likely to be diagnosed with MDD.

Those who lost a family member or survived attacks, whether they were injured or not, were more likely to develop PTSD. This highlights that direct exposure to the attack, even when not being injured or grieving, was associated with PTSD.

“This is likely due to the perceived threat to life that these participants perceived, as well as the fact that they were direct witnesses to terrible events,” Bell says.

“This is important to highlight because the mental health needs of this group of people may not be prioritized over the needs of those who are bereaved or traumatized, which can lead to difficulties in accessing support.”

Unlike most comparable studies, this study also found that being female was associated only with post-bout anxiety disorder and not with post-traumatic stress disorder or MDD.

“A possible explanation for this could be the sense of community and peer support among Muslim women in the context of this attack,” Bell says.

“Our findings are also consistent with other international research that shows that experiencing physical injury from a terrorist attack, regardless of its severity, is strongly associated with mental health outcomes, highlighting to us the importance of testing the mental health outcomes of trauma survivors.” . in addition to meeting their physical health needs.”

The study also found that almost all participants scored high on the religious coping scale, indicating a strong commitment to the Muslim faith and suggesting that people used their religious beliefs to make meaning of their experiences.

Additionally, many participants scored highly on post-traumatic growth, indicating the potential for positive changes in a person’s core beliefs after adversity.

This was particularly evident in the domain of others: the study revealed the highly interconnected nature of a small and diverse community, as reflected in high scores on measures of social support.

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