PSYCHOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF THE MARCHIONESS DISASTER ON SURVIVORS AND RELATIVES

The psychological after-effects of the Marchioness river boat disaster of 20th August 1989 on 27 survivors and 17 relatives are described. O n measures of intrusive memories and of psychological difficulties the se subjects are significantly higher than population norms, and somewh at higher than psychiatric in-patient populations. Personality measure s taken after the disaster show that neuroticism scores are very much higher than population norms, but personality measures were not correl ated with distress. Few subjects appear to have had psychiatric proble ms prior to the disaster. Location on the boat was not related to psyc hological outcome, and this may have been due to the greater impact of other factors such as the suddenness of the disaster and multiple ber eavement. Being separated from close friends and losing close friends led to higher distress scores, as did having difficulty staying afloat after the boat sank. Many other aspects of the experience did not hav e significant additional effects on distress. Bereaved subjects showed as much distress as the survivors, though this may be due to referral bias.