"People do not understand enough about what post-traumatic stress is"

Aviv Pinhas, 20, was injured about a year ago in an operational accident during his service as a combat soldier and has been receiving treatment at the Sha'arim Trauma Rehabilitation Center at Reuth Rehabilitation Hospital for the past eight months.

Against the backdrop of the rise in the number of soldiers reporting mental health difficulties and the increase in suicides in the IDF, it is important to Aviv to make his voice heard—bravely, clearly, and unequivocally—in order to provide hope and a sense of direction to many others.

"I felt like I wasn't myself, like I didn't know who I was", he shares. "I had no appetite, I lost seven kilograms, I isolated myself, I suppressed everything, and I had no energy to do anything. I felt that I didn't have the strength to cope with life. As the treatment at Reuth Hospital progressed, I felt that I was returning to who I am.

"People do not understand enough about what post-traumatic stress is. It seems frightening to them, but every time I hear about a soldier who has taken his own life, I tell myself that if people talked about it more and normalized it, lives could be saved.

"The public, and soldiers themselves, need to know that it is possible to recover from this; it is not a dead end. I am still dealing with it, and it will accompany me for the rest of my life, but it is possible to feel better. I have friends here who have gone through the same things. There is a bond of brotherhood among us as soldiers. The feelings are the same feelings, the nights are the same nights. Sometimes we come to treatment at the hospital after difficult nights filled with fears and demons that resurface, and you come here knowing that there is someone who cares for you".