Center for study of war, terrorism opens doors in Tel Aviv

By Ruth Sinai, Haaretz Correspondent

tags: trauma, terror, study center

Two armchairs, a two-way mirror, a Persian carpet and a camera on a tripod stand in a small room in a newly renovated building on Tel Aviv’s Ibn Gvirol Street. Here, a unique center for studying the trauma of war and terrorism opened its doors last week.

The trauma victim who may or may not have been involved in the war or terror attack sits in one armchair. A psychotherapist sits in the other chair, mainly listening and occasionally focusing or directing the interviewee’s words. Researchers studying these kinds of traumas sit on the other side of the mirror, with the interviewee’s consent.

NATAL, the Israel Trauma Center for Victims of Terror and War, is modeled after the project documenting Holocaust survivors. Pychotherapist Yehudit Dor, of NATAL, previously worked for the Amcha association, which provides psychological services for Holocaust survivors and their families. The project, intended as both therapy and a research resource, was mounted with Erim Balaila, the association of Israeli POW

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