The Iron Dome, an initiative of American and Israeli ingenuity, has protected the Israeli people from rocket fire. Researchers now find its importance goes far deeper.
During Operation Protective Edge, the Iron Dome air-defense system protected the people of Israel from the constant barrage of enemy rockets fired at them from Gaza. But, Jerusalem Post's Judy Siegel-Itzkovich writes, the Iron Dome has helped the Israeli people psychologically, as well, helping reduce occurrences of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD):
The faith of Israelis in the ability of the Iron Dome air defense system to protect them, along with a strong sense of resilience, reduced the amount of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the population during Operation Protective Edge two years ago, according to new research at Bar-Ilan University.
The results showed that when resilience was coupled with a high subjective belief in Iron Dome, the detrimental impact of trauma exposure was mitigated. In other words, even at high exposure levels, trauma symptoms did not increase for resilient subjects who also had confidence in Iron Dome.
“We know that psychological resilience typically reduces the detrimental effects of trauma exposure on PTSD symptoms, but what we found here is that resilience can be strengthened when coupled with a second factor, namely one’s belief in the external protection provided by Iron Dome,” said Hoffman.
“Another interesting point is that the Iron Dome system not only saved lives, but was also associated with reduced PTSD symptoms, possibly by enhancing one’s sense of safety.”
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