Half a year into the war: more than 172,000 mental distress calls to the Aran hotline

A traumatized country: The Aran Association has summarized the referrals to the mental distress centers since the beginning of the war, from which new records are rising in the rate of calls due to anxiety, depression, trauma and loneliness.

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In the last six months, the total number of requests received in the Aran was 172,000 (an average of about 33,000 per month). About 44,000 requests for help were received at the telephone and online center in the first month of the war. and in the reserves, when most applications (41%) were received in the age range of 18-35 – which coincides with the service age. Also, there was a 125% increase in the number of distress applications among teenagers and young people under the age of 17 in the first weeks of the war, and a sharp increase of 950% in applications around Anxiety, trauma and loss than the half year before.

As the war progressed, there was an increase in applications dealing with depression and acute mental distress and loneliness among young people: during the six months, over 38 thousand applications (22%) were received for distress from children and young people up to the age of 24, of which 60% were girls and 40% were boys. One third of the calls dealt with anxiety and trauma, and every fifth call dealt with mental pain, depression and acute mental distress.

In light of the large number of inquiries, the Aran increased the number of volunteers: on Black Shabbat, over 3,500 inquiries with a very high intensity of distress were received, compared to an average of about 500 calls per day on Saturdays on regular days. In the first days of the war, hundreds of volunteers were needed every day to respond to distress inquiries which keep piling up, compared to dozens on normal days.

During the first months of the war, along with the 1,750 existing volunteers who enlisted in the national mission, about 150 "reserve" volunteers were recruited who returned to the association's ranks in view of the state of emergency.

"There is an imaginary red line between the period before the war and the period after," says David Koren, CEO of the Aran Association: "The mental health crisis, which we observed at the beginning of the events, is already here – and it is hitting hard. This is a crisis that requires systemic, national, long-term budgetary and professional. We call on all decision-makers and stakeholders in the field of mental health to mobilize together with us and help all Israeli citizens in the battle for the mind."