Israel has 20,000 traumatized troops and not enough rehab staff

A survey by Maccabi showed that only 18% of its clients said they required mental health treatment in 2023, but 30% said they needed it in 2024.

By JNS

Israel’s ongoing war has produced about 20,000 soldiers and security forces personnel with post-traumatic stress disorder and a shortage of social workers to treat them, a defense official said on Sunday.

Channel 12 revealed the data in an item aired about the Israeli Defense Ministry’s understaffed programs for treating psychological issues. The data suggest that troops traumatized after Oct. 7, 2023, constitute at least 3% of Israel’s military force.

The ministry’s director general, Eyal Zamir, recently asked the Finance Ministry for a budget hike of tens of millions of shekels to hire 200 additional social workers to help traumatized soldiers.

This was a “strategic issue,” Zamir wrote, warning that the ministry’s Rehabilitation Department would not be able to accommodate the needs of the many soldiers who began requiring its mental-health services since the war began.

So far, the treasury has added 50 social workers, it told Channel 12. Tally Shmuel, the chief psychiatrist at the Maccabi Healthcare Services HMO, said that the numbers of soldiers and others with PTSD are likely to increase in the coming months.

The crisis affecting traumatized security personnel is part of a broader issue in society, where the consumption of anti-anxiety medication during the third quarter of 2024 increased by 20% over the same period from the previous year, Channel 12 reported, citing Health Ministry statistics.

A survey by Maccabi showed that whereas only 18% of its clients said they required mental health treatment in 2023, the figure has risen to 30% in 2024.

Among IDF reservists, 42% said that they required this treatment in 2024. In southern Israel, 70% of residents who are members of Maccabi told the provider they suffer from post-traumatic issues.