title: The evolution of the emergency mental health system in Israel - from the 1980's until today.
abstract: Emergency and disaster situations such as war or terrorism can leave a devastating impact on the mental well-being of victimized populations. In Israel, the civilian aspects of trauma-related mental distress were first extensively tackled during the 1980s, and mainly within the terror-stricken Jerusalem and the localities along the northern border. Since then, a systematic process of trial and error has led to the evolution of emergency mental health services in the country. Over the course of about forty years, it has grown to be an exemplary one. It is a system deeply rooted in the ground, resulting from both a change of discourse and a naturalistic process of lesson learning, that is, drawing conclusions from actual fieldwork. This process and its implications on the mental well-being of Israelis are thoroughly discussed in this research.
authors.affiliation: The Department of Disaster Medicine, School of Public Health, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel.
authors.forename: Moran
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bodas
authors.affiliation: Mental Health Services Division, Ministry of Health, Jerusalem, Israel.
authors.forename: Bella
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ben-Gershon
authors.affiliation: The Department of Disaster Medicine, School of Public Health, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel ; The Mental Health Array, Home Front Command, Israel Defense Forces, Ramla, Israel.
authors.forename: Zohar
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Rubinstein
authors.affiliation: Mental Health Services Division, Ministry of Health, Jerusalem, Israel.
authors.forename: Tal
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Bergman-Levy
authors.affiliation: The Department of Disaster Medicine, School of Public Health, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel ; Israel National Center for Trauma & Emergency Medicine Research, The Gertner Institute for Epidemiology and Health Policy Research, Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, Ramat-Gan, Israel.
authors.forename: Kobi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Peleg
keywords: Emergency; Israel; Mental Health; Psycho-trauma; Resilience; War