MENTAL HEALTH AND CONFLICT TRANSFORMATION 25
Conclusion
The analysis of the relationship between mental illness, residential segregation and
the concepts of public space and everyday life practices gives the opportunity to
propose an answer to the claims put forward in the opening paragraph of this essay.
The factors behind Northern Ireland’s high levels of mental illness are multifaceted.
First, it is a direct consequence of the violence of the conflict, as evidenced by the
high prevalence of PTSD. Second, it is a consequence of the intensification of the
forced movement of households during the Troubles, households that are still
segregated within separated areas, in accordance with religious parameters.
Furthermore, mental illness still affects Northern Ireland because of additional social
factors, such as the marginalization of the households segregated from the public and
social space. Such households can be found throughout Belfast, mainly in the western
and the eastern parts of the city, but even in some areas of the north and the south.
The social reproduction of space itself at interface areas, where episodes of violence
still affect the population, and the disadvantaged economic conditions in segregated
areas need to be taken into serious consideration by future researchers who want to
approach this topic.
Mental health can be used as a marker for conflict transformation, offering a new
perspective on mental health issues in post-conflict Northern Ireland. The
perpetration of violence at interface areas influences individuals and their social
space. Segregation is an obstacle for the decrease of PTSD in Northern Ireland.
Accordingly, perpetrating symbols of violence influences mental health and,
consequently, is an obstacle to the improvement and change of an underlying conflict
in post-conflict Northern Ireland. In order to change, transform and mitigate the
situation of mental health, the relationship between the high prevalence of mental
disorders in this geographical area with the conflict must be analysed in a socioeconomic context. These aspects are explicative of the complex framework of mental
illness in the chosen case study and may open the way to further research.