I am a mother of four children and my oldest son has been serving in Gaza since the beginning of the war. Everyone sees me as a strong and successful woman and the truth is that I never thought I would need psychological treatment. The war changed me. It started with difficulty sleeping at night and constant worries for my son. After a week, terrible anxiety attacks began. I experienced attacks at home and at work. I started being late for work, cutting the work day in half, and after a month I just didn’t have the energy to work. Sometimes I just couldn’t get out of bed. I went to therapy only because I was afraid of what would happen to my little children who see a broken and dysfunctional mother every day.
The therapy saved my family. The techniques I learned help me sleep at night and I hardly experience anxiety attacks now. I’m waiting for my son to return home safely and then I can get back to myself, but in the meantime I’m using therapy to get back to functioning, and especially to be able to take care of the children who are at home.