-Caveat Lector- Israelis seek wonder drug to combat intifada http://asia.dailynews.yahoo.com/headlines/world/article.html?s=asia/headlines/010616/world/afp/Israelis_seek_wonder_drug_to_combat_intifada.html TEL AVIV, June 16 (AFP) - Israelis are downing anti-depressants and flocking to psychiatrists' couches in a way they never did before the outbreak of the Palestinian intifada, with its daily dose of stonings, shootings and bombings. Doctor Omer Porat, speaking for the Superpharm chain of drugstores, said: "The situation is evident in our pharmacies, which have seen such an upsurge in demand that the supply of tranquilizers cannot always meet it." In Jerusalem, where the tension is even more palpable than elswhere in Israel, Superpharm has recently announced that sales of tranquilizers, particularly organic ones, increased 100 percent over a year earlier. Even in the rest of the country, sales have risen by 35 to 50 percent. Newpharm, a competing chain, has reported a 30 percent rise in the sales of prescription drugs, particularly those of the Prozac family. A giant poster in Hebrew and Russian in the Bat-Yam suburb of Tel Aviv shows that advertising for these miracle drugs has also stepped up recently. But there is more to this phenomenon than medication. Associations providing psychological assistance to the victims of attacks have developed. The Natal centre was created in 1994 with state subsidies by Michel Elharar, a resident of the northern Israeli town of Afoula, who lost his daughter in a bomb attack which also killed another seven people. The president of the centre, Yehudit Yuval-Recanati, points out that there has been "a gradual increase in the number of people requiring our help" since the Palestinian uprising, or intifada erupted late September. "Bomb attacks are perceived as catastrophes constantly recurring, thus creating a feeling of a loss of control and insecurity, as if everything was crumbling", she says in an attempt to convey the latent fear of the Israeli population. To face the situation, the newspapers devote entire pages to "the psychology of bombings" and radios invite their listeners -- whether they be survivors, witnesses, relatives or just traumatised citizens -- to express their fears on air and chat with a psychotherapist. On May 29, after the accidental collapse of a Jerusalem wedding hall in which more than 20 of the guests were killed, the Yediot Aharonot daily replied to hundreds of anguished citizens, in cooperation with the health ministry municipal psychiatric services and a Jerusalem psychiatric hospital. "This capped it all: we had been through catastrophes before, but against a backdrop of a tense security situation, the civil disaster took on the dimension of a tragedy and raised the level of tension and anxiety even more", says Doctor Yair Barel, head of psychiatric services for the Jerusalem district. A few days later, a Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up outside a Tel Aviv nightclub, killing another 21 people and injuring at least 100. On the scene of one the deadliest anti-Israeli attacks in years, the paramedics were backed up by voluntary and professional psychological experts, who provided assistance not only to the victims of the blast but also to the rescuers, traumatised by the gruesome sight of blood and torn flesh. Many Israeli psychotherapists have found that the Jewish tradition of Shiva, the seven-day period during which friends and relatives visit the mourner, helped to cope with post-traumatic difficulties. "Shiva is the opportunity to face such situations. It enables the bereaved to cry, feel the loss with help from friends and relatives, before returning to everyday life, despite the grief and the memories", a psychotherapist told radio recently. <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
