Some three million Israelis experienced anxiety, depression and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder in the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led massacre and subsequent war, State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman said in a report published on Tuesday.
The government watchdog said that in the six months following the Oct. 7 attack, only about 0.6% of the population received mental-health treatment, even though 38% of the population reported moderate to severe symptoms.
“The mental-health system, which had difficulty functioning even before Oct. 7, collapsed in the first days of the war,” said Englman, adding that the deficiencies in the field of mental health have yet to be corrected.
According to the report, an estimated 580,000 Israelis suffer from at least one symptom of PTSD at a severe level as a direct consequence of the events of Oct. 7 and the 16-month-long war it triggered.
The survey predicts that approximately 900,000 people will seek help for mental health issues in the future. Israel’s population topped 10 million people last year.
According to the survey, 90% of those affected by PTSD, anxiety and depression are hesitant to seek treatment, with over a third citing a six-month wait for treatment as the main reason followed by privacy concerns.
“It is unthinkable that people would have to wait in line for about six months to receive treatment from a psychiatrist at a health insurance company,” Englman said.
He cautioned that the lack of treatment for such a large number of people reporting symptoms could lead to chronic illness, accompanied by a decline in functioning.