(Daily Beast) Tiffanie Wen - A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggests that Israelis recover from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) more quickly than people of other Western nations. The study compared people who experienced 18 months of terror during the Second Intifada to New Yorkers after 9/11 and found that the amount of PTSD in Israel was similar to New York. However, one and two months after the attack, PTSD was significantly higher in the U.S. than it was during the Second Intifada. Other studies have shown that while the level of anxiety in Israel is typically higher than other Western nations, the level of clinical anxiety remains very low, even during periods of immense violence. So even though Israelis are painfully aware of the never-ending threats, they're also braver because of them. By experiencing more anxiety on a daily basis, they've become inoculated against bad things when they do occur, and habituate to them rapidly. Being raised in Israel lends to a unique mental capacity for overcoming hardship that is unlike any other Western country in the world.
2013-04-19 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive