A Mental Health Crisis Like No Other: Israel’s Invisible Battlefield
Six months after October 7th, a staggering statistic emerged: over three million Israelis — more than a third of the nation’s population — were wrestling with trauma. Today, those numbers are much greater. Unlike physical wounds that can be seen and treated, these psychological injuries remain largely invisible. Yet their impact reverberates through every aspect of Israeli society.
The Unprecedented Scale of Trauma
Israel has weathered war and terrorism before, but three critical factors make this crisis fundamentally different:
First, the sheer magnitude is overwhelming.
According to a study published in The Lancet, probable prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) nearly doubled from the period six to seven weeks before the October 7 attack to the period five to six weeks after the attack. Probable cases of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and depression rose from 25% to 43% and from 31% to 45%, respectively. Behind these statistics are millions of Israelis struggling daily with grief, fear, and uncertainty.
Second, the trauma is multilayered and complex. Many families face a devastating combination of losses — mourning loved ones murdered on October 7th, enduring the anguish of relatives taken hostage, and coping with family members serving extended reserve duty. It’s nearly impossible to find an Israeli untouched by this crisis.
Third, the system was never built for this. As State Comptroller Matanyahu Engelman bluntly put it, Israel’s mental health system “had difficulty functioning even before October 7” and “collapsed in the first days of the war.”
A System Already at Breaking Point
The uncomfortable truth is that Israel entered this crisis with a mental health system already stretched beyond capacity. The average wait time to see a psychiatrist through public insurance is six months — some wait up to a year. For a nation experiencing collective trauma, this reality is both unacceptable and dangerous. While the U.S. and other Western nations allocate 10% to 16% of health budgets to mental health, Israel dedicates just 5.2%. Even more alarming, during the first six months after the attacks, only 0.6% of Israel’s population received mental health treatment through health management organizations (HMOs).
Who Helps the Helpers?
Mental health professionals face a unique challenge: they’re treating trauma while experiencing it themselves. These dedicated therapists and counselors listen to stories of horror and grief daily, all while processing their own losses, fears for loved ones in combat, and sometimes displacement from their homes. This reality creates a secondary crisis — the potential burnout of the very people tasked with healing the nation.
NGOs Filling the Gap
As government systems struggle to meet overwhelming demand, non-governmental organizations have stepped into the breach. NATAL, a leading trauma support organization, opened its helplines at 6:30 a.m. on October 7th and has fielded over 70,000 calls since. Their clinical unit has treated more than 4,000 individuals while providing tens of thousands of hours of resilience training to first responders. These organizations operate on the frontlines, delivering immediate care while government solutions slowly take shape.
What Needs to Happen Next
Recently, Health Minister Uriel Buso announced plans to double mental health services availability. While promising, specific actions must include:
- Dramatic Increases in Mental Health Funding – Israel must bring its mental health budget allocation in line with other developed nations, moving from 5.2% to at least 10% of healthcare spending.
- Incentivizing Therapists to Join Public Services – Low compensation and overwhelming caseloads have driven many mental health professionals to private practice. Creating incentives to bring these professionals back into the public system would ensure care for all Israelis, not just those who can afford private treatment.
- Sustained Support for NGOs – Organizations like NATAL have proven their effectiveness in crisis response. Rather than relying solely on philanthropy, the government must formalize partnerships with these organizations, providing sustained funding for their essential work.
From Trauma to Growth
The concept of post-traumatic growth (PTG) offers a framework for the path ahead. Rather than allowing trauma to define individuals and the nation, PTG focuses on defining and living with trauma in ways that foster resilience and even transformation.
As Shaked Arieli, Director of NATAL’s Career Development Unit, notes that Israelis are still experiencing “continuous trauma” because “there was a beginning and we have still not reached the end.” Yet, she also sees hope: “It is in a human’s DNA to normalize and look for hope… There is always a wound, but it’s not something that you can’t live with. That’s our hope to build resilience.”
Without immediate action, millions of Israelis face the prospect of chronic trauma persisting for years. But with proper investment in mental health infrastructure, professional support, and community resilience programs, there’s potential not just for healing, but for growth.
Israel has always found strength in adversity. Now that same resilience must be applied to mental health—because healing isn’t just about recovering from the past, it’s the foundation upon which the future will be built.