Disclaimer: This article discusses suicide and mental health and may be distressing to some readers.
Approximately 300 Israelis commit suicide each year, and a further 7,000 attempt it on an annual basis, according to Health Ministry data made public on Tuesday.
"We need to be ready for a rise in suicidal ideation for the foreseeable future," said Yael Pomerantz, director of the Health Ministry's suicide prevention unit, during a Knesset Health Committee meeting on Tuesday, citing the horrors of October 7, 2023, and the ensuing war as the inciting factor for the possible increase.
She also listed several populations that are already at a higher risk for suicidal ideation, including: senior citizens, divorced men, new immigrants, members of the LGBT community, sexual assault survivors, and medical professionals and first responders who do search and rescue operations.
People with autism are also considered high-risk for suicide, according to OTI-The Israel Autism Association's Nechama Ben Pazi, who also attended Tuesday's committee meeting. She explained that the suicide rate among the autistic population is at least three times higher than the general population. Ben Pazi added that suicidality is not inherent to autism - the increased suicide risk is linked to externally-caused distress, which can be prevented.
Loneliness surged while after October 7, new study finds
A study conducted in SAHAR-Online Mental Support, University of Haifa, and Ben Gurion University, analyzed real-time helpline data and revealed a surprising shift in the emotional distress experienced by Israelis following the October 7 terror attacks. While expressions of suicidality and depression decreased, loneliness emerged as a dominant concern, particularly among women and younger users.
Researchers using the SAHAR mental health helpline examined 17,523 anonymized text chats spanning two eight-month periods: the year before the attacks (October 2022 to May 2023) and the crisis period following October 7, 2023, through May 2024. The findings paint a nuanced picture of how national trauma reshapes the landscape of psychological distress.
The data showed that suicide-related conversations dropped from 17.8% to 12.9% of all chats, while depression-related discussions fell even more dramatically, from 17.8% to just 8.2%. In stark contrast, loneliness-related conversations increased from 14.7% to 19.0% during the crisis period.
The research team noted that while overall help-seeking volume surged after October 7, the shift in the type of distress expressed suggests different underlying psychological mechanisms. The decline in suicidal expressions may reflect the "pulling together" phenomenon often observed after collective trauma, in which heightened social cohesion provides a temporary protective buffer against suicidal ideation.