Overview
- The peer-reviewed study in Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics surveyed 132 Israeli adults roughly 4 to 6 months after the attacks.
- Among those directly exposed, nearly 40% met criteria for probable obsessive-compulsive disorder compared with 7% in a matched control group.
- About one in four exposed participants reported new-onset symptoms, while pre-existing symptoms often intensified.
- Compulsive checking related to safety concerns was the most common new behavior, including repeatedly confirming that doors and windows were secured.
- The team led by Eyal Kalanthroff and Helen Blair Simpson reports that PTSD severity partly explains the rise in compulsions, notes self-report limitations, and urges routine screening for OCD in trauma services.