Psychiatrist Prof. Yoram Yovel warned of the impact of the unending state of emergency Israeli citizens have been experiencing since the October 7 massacre. Speaking at the ‘A Nation in Post-Trauma’ conference hosted by Ynet and Yedioth Ahronoth in collaboration with the Histadrut, Yovel described the situation as ‘liminal’ – neither before nor after – and warned that there is a heavy price for this: ‘We know how to be in a time of emergency, and we know how to be in times of calm, but what we have now is neither emergency nor calm. You never know if it’s over.’ He noted that this is ‘a natural response to such an event. There are quite a few among us carrying real post-traumatic syndromes, and this needs to be treated – but alongside the difficulties, there is also very great resilience that has been revealed here. The challenge is to preserve it.’
