Published: 31 March 2020
Last updated: 4 March 2024
THE CORONAVIRUS may in some senses be a greater challenge to Israel than the wars and terrorism that have punctuated the country's history, according to a leading Israeli trauma expert.
"For Israelis it might be more difficult," Danny Brom, founding director of Metiv, the Israel Centre for Psychotrauma, said. "They can tell themselves a bomb we know, a war we know. And this [pandemic] we look at and say oh what now? And it really means a shift."
Brom, a clinical psychologist who immigrated from Holland in 1988 after setting up a trauma centre there, told The Jewish Independent "this is a very different situation than a war".
"When there are terrorist attacks and wars people in Israel pull together. This is based on a survival mechanism of connecting with other people. Corona breaks through that mechanism," he said. "Now everyone you meet is a possible enemy. You're hesitant to connect, you don't want to come too close. That creates a different issue."
In Brom's view, a depressive attitude is now widespread in Israel because people feel disconnected by the movement and contact strictures. "People need people when they feel threatened but grandparents cannot meet their children and grandchildren and children can't meet with peers. All these mechanisms are being broken down. They are on hold."
Under war circumstances, something that can really help is a good hug from someone safe, Brom adds. "When that's dangerous or impossible, if that is being impeded, then there's a basic level of not feeling totally safe. People don't feel safe at the moment."
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A key difference from a war situation is the invisible nature of the coronavirus threat, Brom says. "If we have good parenting, we develop from a very early age that once there is a visible danger we immediately connect with other people. Corona tells you that's dangerous, don't go into that mechanism. But that's almost impossible because we really need connection. People can't really live without connection."
"If you have had a very safe youth and adolescence you can put on hold these needs but people who haven't had a good experience early on might have a lot of difficulties with that feeling of being disconnected," Brom says.
The coronavirus impact is vastly different than that of the rocket fire experiences of Israelis living in southern communities near the Gaza border like Sderot, where Metiv has done extensive work, says Brom.
It's in a way easier when there is a visible danger. You can either run away, or you can protect yourself. Here you go into the strange mode of 'I can't do anything'.
"What you see in the south is hyper-alertness. There is a video of a three-year-old kid playing with a little car. The siren goes off and automatically, without thinking, the kid drops the car and runs to shelter. It means his nervous system is all geared up for that. You know what to do. You run, you’re safe. That situation now doesn't exist. There is no immediate visible danger that brings you into running or doing something specific. Basically, it tells you now don't do anything, be passive, be at home, don't go out so that's a big difference."
"It's in a way easier when there is a visible danger," he adds. "You can either run away, or you can protect yourself. Here you go into the strange mode of 'I can't do anything'. I can wash my hands but that is not active survival mode."
Another difference with the rocket attacks in Sderot is that under Hamas shelling one is in close contact with family and neighbours, while the coronavirus excludes such contact.
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MOREOVER, UNLIKE WAR SCENARIOS, no one has a sense when it will end. During the 1991 Gulf war, Israelis experienced confinement in sealed rooms because of Iraqi SCUD missile attacks and it seemed unclear if Baghdad would use chemical warheads.
But, notes Uri Dromi, director of the Jerusalem Press Club and a former spokesman for Yitzhak Rabin, "the enemy was known and there was a certainty it would end soon because of the advance of coalition forces. This time no one knows."
In that war, Israeli army spokesman Nachman Shai, who later went on to become a Labor party MK, emerged as a voice that soothed citizens anxieties. Today, however, "people don't know whom to trust. Senior officials and experts contradict each other," Dromi says.
Brom has advice for Israelis under lockdown. "If during times of war we've said try to relax, I would add now to also be active doing things, whatever it is. It can be cooking, helping others, and especially for the elderly engaging in sport. Being active physically applies to everyone. Stay in contact with people, initiate contact."
Brom recommends sticking to a daily routine for children. "My son lives in a small apartment and makes a challenging route of barriers for the kids to climb for an hour, then there's an hour of schoolwork, an hour of drawing, an hour for stories. That's very important for how children regulate themselves so that they don't float in time and that they have a sense of control."
And there are things one shouldn't do, adds Anna Harwood-Gross, director of research at Metiv, including incessantly watching the news. "We can use our sense of self control to limit the amount of news and conflicting information and know when to turn off news and know not to have conversations with those who increase our anxiety level. The idea is to turn off the television and allocate the time you get your news so that you are in control."
Harwood-Gross says that rather than aim at getting rid of anxiety, one should acknowledge that it is justified under the current circumstances. "The situation is anxiety inducing and we're having to learn to live with that anxiety."
‘She suggests giving space to anxiety while "also finding way of controlling it in a way that keeps structure." This involves having a schedule that enables maintenance of self-control, she says. "Getting dressed in the morning, cooking healthy meals, doing exercise in front of the television or an exercise video, movement. All are really important and if you put them in a schedule you get it done and give a sense of self control."
Everyone should find what works for them, she says. "We need a lot of self-compassion in these days. We should know that we won't manage to do everything. With children and work it can be overwhelming. Too strict a schedule can be harmful but having a structure can help with anxiety. So it's about finding a happy medium."
Photo: Women at the Western Wall, March 12 (Emmanuel Dunand/AFP)
