‘Lockdowns take their toll’: Israel’s mental health continues to plummet

The latest report on mental illness in Israel shows psychiatric issues are on the rise, according to the Jerusalem Post. Some attribute the issue to the country’s harsh lockdowns and COVID-19 mandates. 

The Eran Report, presented to Israel President Isaac Herzog Sunday by national emotional support center Eran, reveals that mental illnesses such as depression and acute distress have risen at a worrying rate since 2021. Eran says it received 300,883 requests for emotional support in 2022, a 10% increase from 2021. 62.5% of the requests came from women. 

The two largest problems reported were emotional distress and loneliness, the latter making up 28% of the requests. 7,221 callers reported economic hardships, mostly due to long-term unemployment. 

“Here’s an idea. Why not have the Israeli government NOT engineer loneliness and economic hardship? Lockdowns, the curtailing of civil rights of citizens, and planned economic privation take their toll. No doubt President Herzog could not be happier about this,” commented one reader on the Post’s article. 

The report’s numbers are consistent with an upward trend in mental illness stemming from Israel’s harsh lockdowns. 

A study last year by Israel's largest HMO, Clalit Health Services, found that COVID-19 lockdowns had a devastating psychiatric impact on Israelis.  

The study reviewed 771,636 medical files of residents of Jerusalem and central Israel. It found that during the lockdown periods there was a 60% increase in patients suffering from psychiatric disorders compared with 2019.   

It also found a 14% increase in patients with cardiovascular diseases, an 8% increase in obese patients, a 7% increase in smoking patients, and a 6% increase in patients with high blood pressure.   

The study came after a March 2022 report by Ha’aretz which warns of a “psychiatric pandemic” due to the harsh psychiatric impact of lockdowns and quarantines, particularly on children and adolescents.   

“There is an increase in suicidal ideation, and while there is no clear indication of actual suicides, there is an evident increase in suicidal ideation, intention or behavior,” Psychologist Yaakov Ophir told Ha’aretz.   

But Israel is not the only country that suffered from lockdowns. 

A recent study from the UK’s National Health Services has found that one in four teenagers 17-19 are likely to suffer from a mental disorder after lockdowns sparked a surge in cases. The number has skyrocketed from 17.4% per year to 25.7%.  

According to The Telegraph, the study also found that one in five children between 11-16 is likely to have a mental disorder, split between 18% of boys and 22% of girls.  

A study by Johns Hopkins University in January 2022 showed that lockdowns not only did not have any effect on mortality rates but proved to have severe negative consequences.   

“While this meta-analysis concludes that lockdowns have had little to no public health effects, they have imposed enormous economic and social costs where they have been adopted,” states the study. “In consequence, lockdown policies are ill-founded and should be rejected as a pandemic policy instrument.”