One year into the coronavirus pandemic, Israelis are showing signs of emotional and psychological distress. Consumption of anti-depressants, anti-anxiety medication, and painkillers is on the rise. Israelis are also smoking more, and many have put on weight.
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According to a survey by Physicians for Human Rights Israel, one in every 10 Israelis has taken anti-depressants or anti-anxiety pills.
At 42%, nearly half of those who took the medication did so either for the first time or increased their dosage following the coronavirus outbreak. Over half of those who said they had taken either anti-depressants or anti-anxiety pills for the first time, 53%, were men. At 61.1%, Arab Israelis were more likely to say they had taken such medication, compared to 35.3% of Jewish Israelis. Among the 30.2% that received prescriptions for painkillers over the past year, 37.5% said they had either taken a higher dose than usual or done so for the first time.
People are also turning to cigarettes more often during the pandemic, with 34% of smokers saying they now smoke more often than they used to. Just 13% of smokers said they had cut down on smoking since the outbreak.
Around one-fifth of respondents, 19.2%, said they were eating less healthily than they were one year ago.
In a statement, Physicians for Human Rights Israel said the survey's findings pointed to Israelis feeling in "great distress."
"While in some of the indicators we see a greater impact on the Arab population, the warning signs exist among the entire population. The increase in the consumption of alcohol, smoking, as well as anti-depressants and anti-anxiety medication and painkillers is an expression of psychological difficulty. Add to this the financial and health difficulties, and we have a dramatic blow to the population's physical and emotional health," the organization said.
The online survey was carried out by i-Panel among a representative sample of 610 Arab and Jewish Israelis.
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