Report: 33 percent of Sderot kids suffer post-traumatic stress

[oberliner]

Recent research has found that one out of every three Sderot children suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Staff from the Tel Hai College resource center, who have been involved in life in Sderot for six years, conducted the research.

Center director Prof. Moli Lahad said she expects to find that all of these children also have at least one parent who suffers from PTSD. "These grave figures stem from the fact that the parents' basic security in their ability to protect their children has been completely shaken," Lahad explains. "About a third of the population - adults and children- suffers from acute anxiety, meaning that any occurrence is immediately interpreted as a threat and people spend their entire lives 'on alert.'"


Lahad adds that it is difficult for children to concentrate on schoolwork or carry out daily routines, while adults have trouble performing at work and the constant tension can cause violent outbursts in the home. "In this group, more and people show symptoms of depression," she says.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/792848.html

[IntiRaymi]

1. Well, that just plain sucks.

The greatest damage is that inflicted on children - the most innocent of victims.

[Violet_Crumble]

5. The conflicts damage on children...

If yr interested I read a very good book of interviews with Israeli and Palestinian kids about what they think of each other, the conflict and their lives. Some of it's heartbreaking but it's worth reading...

Three Wishes
Palestinian and Israeli Children Speak
Deborah Ellis

This book is about the children of the war-torn Middle East. Deborah Ellis, author of the enormously popular Breadwinner trilogy, turns her attention from the children of Afghanistan to the children of Israel and Palestine, presenting their stories based on interviews done in the winter of 2002 while in Israel and Palestine.

In a rehabilitation center for disabled children, twelve-year-old Nora says she loves the color pink and chewing gum and explains that the wheels of her wheelchair are like her legs. Eleven-year-old Mohammad describes how his house was demolished by soldiers. And we meet twelve-year-old Salam, whose older sister walked into a store in Jerusalem and blew herself up, killing herself and two people, and injuring twenty others.

All these children live both ordinary and extraordinary lives. They argue with their siblings. They hate spinach. They dream about their wishes for the future. They have also seen their homes destroyed, their families killed, and they live in the midst of constant upheaval and violence.

This simple and telling book allows children everywhere to see those caught in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as children just like themselves, but who are living far more difficult, dangerous lives. The book does not take sides, but it does present an unblinking portrait of how victimized these children are by the endless struggle that the adults around them seem unable or unwilling to resolve.

http://www.groundwoodbooks.com/gw_titles.cfm?pub_id=370

[idontwantaname]

2. survery says:

everyone living under israels boot suffer from PTSD.

[cali]

3. Yeah, of course.

It couldn't possibly be the constant barrage of rocket fire from Gaza causing PTSD.

[Violet_Crumble]

4. They were trying to point out both Israelis and Palestinians have PTSD...

Their post in no way disputed the cause of the PTSD on Israeli kids...

[cali]

6. He/she said:

" everyone living under israels boot suffer from PTSD." If he/she meant that both Israelis and Palestinians have PTSD, he/she could simply have stated that, for it's surely true. But that wasn't what the poster said, and clearly the statement about "under the boot, is open to interpretation.

[Violet_Crumble]

7. And if they'd disputed the OP you'd be correct...

But they didn't, and I hope they will pop in and confirm it. To me "under the boot" reads as being under occupation, though I guess it could be interpreted as meaning some sumo wrestler wearing Blundstones is standing on a PTSD sufferer's foot ;)

[idontwantaname]

8. come on man,

many israelis suffer from PTSD... not only from rockets from gaza and lebanon, but also serving inthe OT has been a source as well. driving a tank or jeep into a refugee camp and being shot at as well as shooting people leaves a mark. theres no way about it. just like americans are returning from iraq with mental issues, so are israelis.

[Englander]

9. Kick for empathy. n/t

[geek tragedy]

10. Parents on both sides of the conflict

have not done right by their children.