New TAU Center for Traumatic Stress and Resilience
Tel Aviv University will soon lay the cornerstone of the Miriam and Moshe Shuster Building for the Center for Traumatic Stress and Resilience. The Center, which will commence operations next year, will bring together 100 mental health and medical researchers. Working with the IDF and other organizations in Israel and worldwide, including the US Army, they will advance research, treatment, prevention and education of post-traumatic stress disorder and related conditions. It is expected that the construction of the state-of-the-art facility will be completed within two years.
“Post-traumatic stress is a major issue in Israel and around the globe,” says Prof. Yair Bar-Haim of TAU’s School of Psychological Sciences and Sagol School of Neuroscience, the Acting Director of the Center. “The idea that we had was to integrate basic research, clinical science and treatment into one building, to have everything under the same roof, and in this way to advance treatments and effective clinical options for traumatic stress disorder.”
When complete, the Center will be one of the largest traumatic stress treatment and research centers in the world. The fourstory, 2,000-meter building, designed by architect Erez Shani, will feature a reception area, treatment rooms, auditorium, a modern clinic capable of treating between 800 and 1,200 patients annually, and ten interdisci
plinary laboratories for studying post-traumatic stress at various levels, from the molecular genetic level to clinical applications. “The center’s large clinic will serve the public, and people will be able to receive treatments from experts,” says Prof. Bar-Haim.
Alongside the main donors of the building,
the extended Moss family contributed a wing in the building in memory of TAU Governors, Honorary Doctors and longtime supporters Sam and Agi Moss of Australia.
Prof. Bar-Haim says treatment of post-traumatic stress until now has had a lower rate of success than for other psychiatric disorders. One of the Center’s primary goals is to reverse that trend and develop more successful treatments. The Center will incorporate the talents of TAU staff as well as of scientists and professors in Israel and from universities around the globe. It will also train professionals in new techniques in the treatment of post-traumatic stress, thus creating a larger pool of practitioners who can pro
vide better, evidence-supported treatments.
In terms of the rates of general stress and trauma, says Prof. Bar-Haim, Israel is similar to much of the world. What sets Israel apart in this sphere is its obligatory military service. “As a function of this mandatory service,” he explains, “tens of thousands of young male and female soldiers are exposed to potentially traumatic events through their service, even in lowintensity combat, as part of routine security procedures. This creates significant percentages of PTSD in these young people and veterans.”
Prof. Bar-Haim estimates that 5% of those who serve in combat or combat-support roles each year experience post-traumatic stress, and this number increases when intensive military operations are conducted or during wartime. “It causes a lot of pain to individuals and families,” he says.
Another goal in the creation of the Center, notes Prof. Bar-Haim, is to increase the overall awareness of post-traumatic stress and support decision-making among Israel’s leadership on how to handle this disorder, not only among military veterans but also in the general population, and reach informed decisions about the issue, which is of national importance. “The Center provides a critical treatment opportunity for Israelis who are constantly facing traumatic threats,” says Prof. Yair Bar-Haim, who expressed his gratitude to the families that are sponsoring the creation of the Center. “The dedicated Shuster building will enable us to enhance our activities and better serve the public.”