title: From PTSD to "national trauma": the case of the Israel Trauma Center for Victims of Terror and War.
abstract: Since its establishment in 1998, NATAL, "The Israel Trauma Center for Victims of Terror and War," has been propagating the notion of national trauma as a comprehensive category of suffering related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Against the shifting perceptions of PTSD in Israel, we explore recent undertakings of NATAL's experts to naturalize trauma among "pre-clinical" populations of Israeli Defense Force (IDF) veterans. The experts' attempts to de-politicize the suffering of the veterans are constrained by the fact that in their clinical ideology, the apolitical language of the therapeutic is aligned with a somber national pathos that strikes a collective cord of common Jewish fate and identity. This alignment may account for the Israeli public's acceptance of NATAL's agenda, despite its subversive connotations.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Education, Sacker School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel. pelegi@012.net.il
authors.forename: Keren
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Friedman-Peleg
authors.forename: Yoram
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Bilu
mesh_terms: D003130:Combat Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology; D017144:Focus Groups; D006801:Humans; D007557:Israel; D008889:Military Personnel / Q000523:psychology; D011570:Psychiatry / Q000458:organization & administration; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology; D014728:Veterans / Q000523:psychology; D014857:Warfare