THE tributes have been paid, the cameras have stopped rolling and life returns to normal for most people remembering the IRA attack 20 years ago.

But what happens when the moments from that day linger on in the memory - affecting everything from relationships, friendships to being able to walk down the street?

Dr Stuart McNab is the director of the Centre for Research and Education in Psychological Trauma at the University of Chester and specialises in helping to treat people with post traumatic distress disorder.

He has a unique take on the events of what happened on March 20 1993 because he was in Warrington when the bombs went off.

Dr McNab said: “I was in a cafe at Hatters Row on the day the bomb went off. We heard this noise which sounded like an empty lorry going over bumps in the road. My wife thought it was a bomb.

“People were running from Bridge Street to get away, we knew something was very wrong.”

But for many who were in the thick of the chaotic scenes on Bridge Street the experience can penetrate and affect them deeply.

“Trauma pierces all the different emotions and cuts right through to the core.

“People on the outside may appear healed but on the inside they are still suffering difficulty which then begins to affect their whole system.

“They might not make the link between the two because it can affect them physiologically or psychologically or it can affect their relationships. People can become depressed,” he added.

“Every reaction to a trauma is individual. You don’t always know how someone will be affected.

“The usual things are intensive thoughts of it coming back to you.

“It can also form hyper arousal where you are practically on guard so nothing feels safe. Something your would never have thought twice about becomes threatening.

“Sometimes people will avoid a situation that is related to the original trauma.

“Sometimes the issues will disperse after a while. Sometimes they will be so severe they will need some treatment.”

Now 20 years on with the commemorative events held over the last few weeks will they help some still suffering?

Dr McNab added: “There is something about a collective experience which can help people.

“Some find things like the commemorative services very supportive but they can also take people back to that day and with an anniversary there is a sense that it the original event is getting further away.

“But that doesn’t mean there is a reduction in the feelings.”