Specialists say anxiety, violence and learning difficulties among young people may reflect both trauma and a loss of trust in adults and institutions meant to protect them.
Three years after the war began, psychological effects on children remain severe, Ynet reported. Specialists at the Ofek center affiliated with the Hebrew University describe an added dimension to trauma: a loss of trust in adults and institutions expected to keep children safe.
Ofek said 69 children had been killed since the war began and more than 1,500 had been hospitalized with war-related injuries. The center reported that diagnoses of anxiety disorders among teenagers rose by about one-third in the second year of the war compared with the year before, while eating-disorder diagnoses increased by about one-quarter. It also estimated that about 275,000 children had a parent serving in the reserves for months.
Teenagers interviewed by Ynet described anxiety, confusion, sleeplessness, isolation and difficulty feeling that ordinary life had resumed. Israel’s Education Ministry said it did not have the center’s findings, but said school psychological services had supported pupils and educators since Oct. 7, expanded counselling and developed tools to identify distress.