An Israeli Soldier’s Suicide Reminds Us of the Survivor’s Guilt So Many CarryBy Dr. Orli Peter
We’ve just heard reports of another suicide by a young Israeli impacted by the Oct. 7 attack and the ensuing war. His name is added to the list of Nova survivors and frontline soldiers we’ve lost.
The death of the Israeli soldier echoes the life of a young man I am pseudonymously calling Raphael, who walked into a trauma treatment program I was leading in the city of Petach Tikva in central Israel for survivors of the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas. He gave us permission to share his story with his real first name in the hope his witness might help others. I chose a pseudonym to protect him from the disbelief campaigns that often target survivors who speak out. |
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If Only My Father Could Choose to Deny the Holocaust Ever HappenedBy Dr. Orli Peter
At 96, my father is one of the last living Holocaust survivors. He also has Alzheimer’s. The disease has not brought him the forgetting that would be a gift to him.
Alzheimer’s progresses in a pattern that erodes the mind in reverse, stripping away recent memories first, then advancing into the regions that regulate emotion and suppress fear. Early memories, especially those charged with deep emotion, tend to last the longest. So now, with his brain’s defenses weakened, the horrors he experienced as a child in a Jewish ghetto in Poland surge through him unfiltered. They come without warning, intruding even in moments of joy, as if he’s reliving them. |
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I Came to Treat Trauma: Then the Missiles FellBy Dr. Orli Peter
Dr. Orli Peter, a trauma psychologist and founder of the Israel Healing Initiative, authored a powerful firsthand essay for Jewish Journal detailing her experience treating survivors of the October 7 Hamas attacks. In the article, Peter recounts how she arrived in Israel to offer trauma care—only to find herself navigating missile sirens, bomb shelters, and the shared psychological weight of war. Her reflections shed light on “functional freeze,” the fine line between provider and survivor, and the profound power of presence and shared experience in the healing process. Peter writes with raw honesty about how trauma lives not only in memory, but in the body, the air, and the silences that follow sirens. |
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The cruel theatre of Gaza shows how well Hamas understands psychologyBy Jake Wallis Simons
In one of his final columns as editor of The Jewish Chronicle, Jake Wallis Simons examines how Hamas employs psychological warfare to manipulate global perceptions, citing insights from Israel Healing Initiative CEO, Dr. Orli Peter. He writes: “As the neuropsychologist Dr. Orli Peter pointed out in these pages last year, while the West is saturated with ‘emotional empathy,’ allowing us to easily feel the feelings of others, Hamas has a surfeit of ‘cognitive empathy,’ meaning that they hold a coldblooded understanding of what makes us tick.”
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Resilient DocumentaryBy Chava Floryn
Filmmaker Chava Floryn, alongside Oscar-winning producer Howard Rosenman, presents Resilient, a powerful documentary that explores the impact of trauma and humanity’s capacity to heal. Dr. Orli Peter, one of the film’s featured voices, explains, “To cope with trauma, we sometimes sing together, synchronizing our hearts and brains.” The film movingly portrays the effects of PTSD following the October 7 massacre in Israel, sharing real stories of loss and recovery. |
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How Hamas Fooled the Media: A Neuroscientist's View |
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By Dr. Orli Peter
Dr. Orli Peter, a neuropsychologist and founder of the Healing Initiative in Israel, spoke with journalist Andrew Fox about how Hamas has manipulated Western empathy to distort perceptions of the Gaza conflict. In the interview, Fox explored the psychological impact of media narratives and Peter’s innovative approaches to treating trauma survivors. Her analysis of cognitive empathy highlights the alarming effectiveness of militant propaganda in shaping global public opinion. |
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Meet the brain expert making October 7 survivors smile againBy Andrew Fox
Former British special operations officer Andrew Fox interviewed Israel Healing Initiative CEO Orli Peter in Los Angeles about her work. In the course of the interview, Andrew shared the impact of trauma on his life and participated in treatment. He wrote a moving column for the Jewish Chronicle.
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A new initiative calling on mental health professionals to help trauma survivors in IsraelBy Brian Fishbach
Soon after the launch of the Israel Healing Initiative, writer Brian Fishbach published an article in The Jewish Journal, based in Los Angeles. He chronicled our important work, writing, "A legion of mental health professionals are putting their practices aside to assist trauma victims in Israel."
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Hamas massacre survivors help fellow victims recover, get life back on trackBy Amy Klein
Writer Amy Klein chronicled the journey of the Sharabi brothers, Nova Music Festival survivors, as they built their organization, The Association for Survivors and Wounded, and discussed treatment plans and collaboration with the Israel Healing Initiative.
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Heroes of the Nova Festival and Dr. Orli Peter help survivors receive trauma treatmentBy Susan Eisenstein
Reporter Susan Eisenstein interviewed Dr. Orli Peter about the neurostimulation treatment that she gave to the Sharabi brothers, survivors of the attack on the Nova Music Festival. Dr. Peter told her: “Severe trauma survivors, who show limited response to conventional trauma treatment, see better and quicker progress because this therapy directly targets the underlying cause of their trauma symptoms."
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Episode 106: Healing trauma in the Middle East |
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One Thing Podcast with Dr. Adam Rinde
In a captivating new episode of Dr. Adam Rinde’s "One Thing" podcast, Dr. Orli Peter delves into the groundbreaking work at the Israel Healing Initiative, inspired by her father's remarkable survival of the Holocaust. She reveals why the trauma of October 7 is different from other traumas she’s seen in her 30 years of practice, exploring how severe trauma rewires the brain and the transformative power of neurostimulation in the healing journey.
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Treating Oct. 7 trauma victims
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Clinical and neuropsychologist Orli Peter discusses her team's innovative, high-tech approach to treating the trauma of Oct. 7 survivors and others. Dr. Peter spoke about Israel Healing Initiative's commitment to improving the brain functioning of Nova Music Festival survivors with neurostimulation treatment, making survivors more receptive to conventional trauma treatments and expediting their long-term recovery.
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