Mental illness on the rise in Israel - report

Mental problems such as deep depression and acute distress are on the rise in Israel, according to the latest Eran report. Eran is an emotional first aid and support organization run mostly by trained volunteers which for half a century has been providing first responses by phone and online.

According to the report presented on Sunday to President Isaac Herzog and his wife Michal, who are both involved in removing the stigma from mental illness, there were 300,883 calls to Eran in 2022, representing a 10% increase over the number of calls in 2021.

What brings about mental health issues?

Of these calls, 62.5% were from women. 78% of the appeals for help were by phone and 22% via internet.

The two major problems were loneliness and economic distress.

Of those people seeking help, 28% suffer from loneliness, while 7,221 callers suffer from severe economic hardships, often triggered by long term unemployment.  Some of the callers were suicidal due to their inability to find away out of the morass.