Inaspect Israel’s psychological well being disaster
Warning: This article incorporates references to loss of life by suicide that some readers might discover disturbing.
As October 7’s third anniversary approaches, Ronen Shalev’s physique tells him one thing’s coming.
“You begin shivering,” he tells DW. “It’s not simply sooner or later and you progress on. We have many graves to go to, many households to satisfy. It’s a troublesome time and you’re feeling it in your physique.”
Both of his youngsters attended the Nova Party in Israel‘s south, the place virtually 400 folks had been killed in a terrorist assault carried out by Palestinian militant group Hamas and its associates in Gaza. In complete, roughly 1,200 folks had been killed within the assault and round 250 had been taken hostage.
The assault triggered the war in Gaza, throughout which Israel has killed tens of 1000’s of Palestinians and displaced a lot of the territory’s inhabitants.
Shalev’s son, Roee, was shot and hospitalized, however he survived. Roee’s companion, Mapal Adam, was killed in entrance of his eyes. Shalev’s daughter, Lior, additionally made it out.
Shortly after that day, Shalev’s spouse Gavriela went lacking, earlier than her physique was present in a burned automotive with a goodbye letter. “She could not deal with the sorrow from that day,” Shalev says.
At the identical time, his son Roee’s post-traumatic signs began rising, principally within the type of excessive temper swings. “He went to remedy to please me, however he did not actually consider in it. He thought he was OK, that he was sturdy,” Shalev remembers.
Two years after Gavriela’s loss of life, Roee could not take it anymore, both.
“I’m alive, however I’m lifeless inside,” Roee wrote in his goodbye message, which he posted on his Instagram account. “I’m sorry.”
A rustic in post-traumatic state
Since October 2023, Israel has been grappling with a mental health disaster of unprecedented scale.
According to a report by Israel’s State Comptroller from February 2025, some 39% of the Israeli public reported affected by post-traumatic signs, despair, anxiousness or a mix of the three, on a medium or extreme degree.
This quantities to some 3 million folks, 600,000 of whom might endure severely. However, the report additionally discovered that the variety of folks receiving psychological well being remedy had solely risen by 1% since October 7, 2023, a distinction of round 60,000 folks.
Among the affected teams are survivors of the assault, in addition to folks evacuated from their houses in Israel’s south and north as a result of warfare.
Noga Dagan-Buzaglo is a researcher with the Adva Center, a suppose tank specializing in inequality in Israeli society. She wrote an in depth paper about Israel’s psychological well being system and its challenges post-October 7.
She tells DW that whereas the nation’s mental health funds did enhance attributable to the warfare, it was too little, too late, because the well being system confronted an ongoing disaster that was not dealt with correctly.
“The greatest problem is convincing folks to work in Israel’s public psychological well being system, each attributable to decrease wages compared to the non-public sector and attributable to an overload of labor,” she says.
Sedatives usually the go-to resolution
The present state of affairs impacts psychological well being professionals, too. Research by the University of Haifa discovered that 84% of the therapists who handled folks affected by the October 7 assault confirmed traumatic signs themselves, and a few 45% of them mentioned they really feel mentally exhausted.
Israel’s Health Ministry has repeatedly mentioned it has elevated funding and job openings for the nation’s public psychological well being system, however staffing shortages stay, particularly in peripheral areas within the far north and south.
Because of those points, the report mentioned ready occasions for remedy by Israel’s public healthcare system had been longer than six months. In some instances, Dagan-Buzaglo says, sufferers needed to wait greater than a 12 months earlier than receiving assist.
Mental well being NGOs and volunteers attempt to fill the gaps, usually struggling themselves below the workload. This additionally results in an elevated use of prescription drugs. Some folks flip to substances like alcohol and medicines.
The Israeli Ministry of Health mentioned earlier this 12 months that it had registered an increase of between 13% and 17% within the prescription of sedatives, sleep aids and antidepressants.
Those that suffer from the state of affairs probably the most are those who can not afford to pay a non-public therapist. Dagan-Buzaglo labels the Israeli public well being system’s response to the state of affairs as “merely unhealthy.”
Soldiers in danger
Combat troopers have acquired a particular focus in the case of Israel’s psychological well being disaster.
Statistics revealed by the Israeli parliament and the IDF counsel a pointy rise of suicide instances amongst reservists: from a most of 1 annual case within the six years previous the warfare to 11 instances in 2024, in addition to 9 instances investigated as suspected suicides in 2025. This doesn’t embody ex-soldiers who dedicated suicide attributable to trauma after the top of their service.
Dagan-Buzaglo, a researcher on the Adva Center, says that whereas professionals obtain higher pay and circumstances working for the military, the shortage of personnel remains to be obvious. “In the military, too, the size and high quality of remedy are by far not at an sufficient degree.”
To begin fixing the issue for each civilians and troopers, she believes the system wants extra help. “We must acknowledge the truth that trauma isn’t over after a 12 months. This means investing cash.”
Breaking the taboo
Ronen Shalev holds common lectures and talks in regards to the significance of psychological well being, usually to teams of troopers. He believes that is the easiest way to proceed his son’s legacy of preventing to stay on.
Shalev, who himself was recognized with post-traumatic stress dysfunction (PTSD), says he made a option to stay his life to its fullest.
His message: The taboo relating to suicidality — which nonetheless exists throughout Israeli society — must be damaged. “This is very true relating to those that say they’re sturdy. They’re the scary ones as they’re much less more likely to obtain remedy.”
For Shalev, talking publicly about his household’s expertise has turn into a part of his personal restoration — and a technique to encourage others to hunt assist earlier than they attain a disaster level.
“Life, with all its ache, remains to be value deciding in favor of,” he mentioned.
If you’re affected by severe emotional pressure or suicidal ideas, don’t hesitate to hunt skilled assist. You can discover data on the place to search out such assist, regardless of the place you reside within the international stage, at this web site: https://befrienders.org/
Edited by: Andreas Illmer
