UK: Seven stories after 7-7

Seven stories 7/7: three years on

Bombs set off by Islamist extremists in the capital three years ago killed 52 people and the four suicide bombers. Many of those affected are still scarred by the experience. Seven of them tell Emily Dugan how they are trying to rebuild their lives

Sunday, 6 July 2008


Elaine Young, 49: caught up in the Edgware Road bombing


"Until February this year I coped fine. It was very much: 'I was in it, I got out, I'm OK.' I'm in the pull-your-socks-up brigade, so I felt it was lesser people who got stressed and didn't want to admit how I was feeling. That's not been a good thing.

One day in February I just collapsed. I had worked myself to death, doing 80 hours a week just to shut it out [Elaine suffered minor physical injuries but was left deeply traumatised by the sight of so many people dying around her]. The day it happened I was at work and there was a big bang outside my window – probably just a crane dropping a skip – but it triggered something. I jumped up and ran to the loo, staying in the cubicle for ages and ages. I'm a master of pretending everything's fine, but when I got back from work that night I thought, 'I'm not getting the train again'. I haven't been back to work since.

I get an awful lot of flashbacks and nightmares, and I often get several panic attacks a day. I've been trying to get counselling for my post-traumatic stress disorder but there's nothing there for people like me. There was a fund for victims of the bombs, but when I tried to get it in February the money had run out.

I went to the GP, who referred me to the local hospital, which then referred me elsewhere. Now I've got an appointment to see if I'm eligible for counselling and then I'll be on another waiting list. It's been months of waiting. I'm not hopeful. All I want is to be able to get back to doing things the way I did before."
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UK: July 7th terror hit produced many PTSD wounded

255 survivors of July 7 attacks treated for stress
By Judith Duffy, Health Correspondent
‘Good recovery’ for patients
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APIONEERING MENTAL health screening programme set up in the wake of the London bombings has treated more than 200 people for problems such as post-traumatic stress disorder.

The NHS initiative set up a team dedicated to identifying and offering specialist treatment to those suffering from long-term trauma after being caught up in the terrorist attacks in 2005.

The July 7 attack was the largest mass casualty event in the UK since the second world war, with 56 deaths and 775 casualties among the 4000 passengers involved. It is the first time such a screening programme has been used in the UK, and it is hoped it could be used as a model for any major incidents or disasters in the future.

An interim study on the programme, which will be presented at a British Psychological Society meeting this Friday, revealed that 255 people had been referred for treatment by May 2007. The majority - 71% - were suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, with other problems including travel phobia, anxiety disorder and major depression.
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This above all must be noted whenever looking at treating PTSD

"We were able to identify people who did have significant problems and get them in treatment and so far there is a good recovery rate," he said.