Secure wards have been at 115% of capacity since the first lockdown

President Rivlin:

“No one should feel ashamed of experiencing mental health challenges. If you are, don’t hold it in. Don’t wait for it to develop into a crisis. Don’t hide or bury it, and most importantly, don’t be embarrassed.”

“If we had a swab test for our mental health, we would be able to see the damage caused by the disease clearly, along with its side-effects: isolation, uncertainty and social distancing. But as things stand, these are silent and transparent diseases, and they have a price in mental health. A heavy price. A price that may cost lives, and will certainly affect our health.”

The president thanked the medical teams:

“You are the invisible heroes of the fight against corona. Mental health is an integral part of our overall health. We need to do everything possible so that you, who are on the front line - in the trenches of the battle against corona, our mental health special forces – can successfully deal with the mental health challenges.”

“I felt like I was disappointing my parents, that I was a failure. And then I heard a voice telling me to take my life, a voice I don’t know. When I came here for treatment at the hospital, I understood it was a psychotic attack,” said M, 14, to the president with great candor during his visit today, Tuesday 2 February / 20 Shvat, to Clalit Health Service’s Geha Mental Health Center, accompanied by chairman of Clalit Yohanan Locker and the center’s director, Prof. Gil Zaltzman. This is the first presidential visit to a psychiatric hospital in Israel and is vital in raising awareness of mental health, particularly at this time.

M is part of a group of children of all ages who met the president for a frank conversation during his visit. They shared the difficulties they have experienced with the president, speaking at length about the treatment they are receiving and that is helping them to recover. “I came here because of depression and anxiety,” said 14-year-old M, adding, “I had psychotic depression. People with psychosis feel as if they are being followed, being filmed, that someone is pursuing them and wants to do them harm. I took pills that my psychiatrist gave me after I stopped going to school. Now, I am studying here and after lessons I go home. This is the only way I can maintain a regular schedule.”

12-year-old R told the president of the sense of isolation when nobody understands your problems, saying “I am here because of depression, suicidal tendencies and social anxiety. When you feel suicidal, you don’t have hope and can’t raise your spirits. I tried to harm myself. I felt totally alone, that nobody understands me. There is something in society that makes us feel that it is not OK to feel like this. That if you do feel like this, you are damaged. People really didn’t understand what it means and it was very difficult to help me. Coming here is seen as problematic or extraordinary and society doesn’t accept it, and that makes us feel even more isolated. We need for people to give us a hand and to understand that it is OK, because that is the only way that we will come and get the treatment we need.”

The president thanked the children for their remarkable openness. He urged them to carry on and to be conscious of their emotional pain, just as we are all conscious of physical pain, and stressed that the medical staff are trained and ready to hear every need and feeling they have. During his visit, the president heard from the center’s director, Prof. Gil Zaltzman, about the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on its work and the unique care it gives to young people. According to the center, since the outbreak of corona occupancy has dropped from 98% to 89% because of patients’ unwillingness to be hospitalized, but that since the end of 2020, secure wards have been at 115% capacity. During the year of corona, there has been a rise of 30% in the number of new referrals. During this time, there has also been a rise of 12% in total referrals to the center, including repeat referrals. Patients come to the clinics for depression, anxiety and other mental health disorders, and the wards treat those with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, suicidal tendencies and aggression. These patients, who suffer from chronic disorders found it difficult to reach the center during the first and second lock-downs and in many cases their situation worsened. The center’s unique day center offers treatment to children who do not require full hospitalization. This is the only facility in the country that deals with children of elementary school age, before adolescence.

“Visiting here today and meeting with children and young people, who some are already calling ‘the corona generation’, is deeply moving,” said the president. “One cannot be indifferent to the distress, the pain and the suffering. We in wider society are not conscious of the damage that corona is doing to mental health of young people, children, the elderly and adults. Our mental health, all of us. If we had a swab test for our mental health, we would be able to see the damage caused by the disease clearly, along with its side-effects: isolation, uncertainty and social distancing. But as things stand, these are silent and transparent diseases, and they have a price in mental health. A heavy price. A price that may cost lives, and will certainly affect our health.”

The president added, “Mental health problems cut across sectors and groups in our society. No-one should feel ashamed of experiencing mental health challenges. If you are, don’t hold it in. Don’t wait for it to develop into a crisis. Don’t hide or bury it, and most importantly, don’t be embarrassed.”

The president thanked the medical staff, who have been working at the limits of their ability for months now, and said, “You are the invisible heroes of the fight against corona. Mental health is an integral part of our overall health. We need to do everything possible so that you, who are on the front line - in the trenches of the battle against corona, our mental health special forces – can successfully deal with the mental health challenges.”

“I hope that the mental health system will get reinforcements during this period, and in general - beds, therapy hours and budgets. We are responsible for helping you to help, and I hope that as you take care of your patients you are also taking care of yourselves. You must not allow yourselves to be exposed. You therapists need mental health support no less, and perhaps even more, than anyone else,” the president said at the end of his remarks.

Director of the center Prof. Gil Zaltzman: “One of our greatest challenges is to break stigmas. Mental health patients often literally find themselves dying of shame, scared to get treatment. We deal with the fringes of the fringes of those who society generally ignores, and so your visit here today is historic. An Israeli president has never visited a psychiatric hospital before, and I thank you for that.”