24 CHIARA MAGLIACANE
In relation to the prevalence of mental disorders from a gender perspective, the World
Health Organization (2001) pointed out how the overall prevalence of mental
disorders does not differ between men and women. In contrast, another more recent
study (Ferry et al 2010) shows that males are significantly more likely to develop
PTSD in their life than females, if data are focused on a worldwide perspective. Even
more interesting, the results are the opposite if data are focused on the specific
context of Northern Ireland. Contrary to the estimate from international studies, this
study shows that in Northern Ireland females are twice as likely as males to meet the
criteria for PTSD.
Table 1.
Source: (Ferry et al 2010: 12).
Table 2: Prevalence of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder among the Northern Ireland
population.
Source: (Ferry et al 2010: 12).
This contrast between worldwide and Northern Ireland’s data reinforces the need for
an investigation about the influence of the peculiarities of post-conflict Northern
Ireland on mental health. Again, it can be suggested that social and economic factors
influence mental illness; it may be hypothesised that these factors are conditioned by
residential segregation and are, then, a post-conflict condition where experts can
actually intervene. This topic still needs to be researched and cannot be unheeded for
its role in the transformation of the conflict.