Addictions on the rise among Israelis exposed to Oct. 7 attacks
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Transcript
00:00At 19 years old, this Israeli man, who wishes to remain anonymous, has put his plans to
00:05join the military on hold in order to enter rehab.
00:09He started using drugs when the Covid-19 pandemic broke out, but began taking them more frequently
00:14after Hamas's October 7th attack, in which one of his friends was killed.
00:19It got so bad that I just sat alone at home and did drugs by myself.
00:27It's not like heroin and stuff like that, not injections, not anything.
00:32It's party drugs like ecstasy, MDMA, LSD, stuff like that.
00:37It's a way of escaping from reality.
00:40According to health professionals, his case is no exception.
00:44This psychiatrist carried out a study on 1,000 Israelis, which found a link between indirect
00:49exposure to the October 7th attack and an increase in addictive substances consumption
00:54of around 25%.
00:56In specific subgroups, for example, mid-aged men or other subgroups, we see a higher use
01:03of cannabis and of alcohol.
01:06As humans, we don't like living with stress.
01:09It's really difficult.
01:10And what we do sometimes is we self-medicate.
01:13Almost every Israeli citizen is at an increased stress right now because we're concerned.
01:19We're not only concerned about what happened, we're concerned about the future.
01:23According to authorities, no equivalent data exists on mental health or addiction amongst
01:28Palestinians.
01:29Gaza's health ministry, meanwhile, says the ongoing war in the enclave has killed almost
01:3440,000 people.