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While the Israeli government cements its annexation of East Jerusalem amid the failure of the peace process and Israel's push for normalization with the Arab world, most recently the Abraham accords, the Palestinians of Jerusalem - categorized as "permanent residents," not citizens - are challenging their non status. Many are individually maneuvering economic, social and perhaps political, change in a direction that further distances them from their fellow Palestinians in the West Bank. As that relationship shrinks due to its restricted access, a new comradeship is being strengthened between Jerusalem Palestinians and their fellow Palestinians living within Israel. This shift could be significant on the larger political level, potentially upsetting the two-state project. At the same time, Palestinian cultural identity everywhere is stronger than ever and proving to withstand all Israeli attempts of erasure. The emerging reality in Jerusalem combines an individual pragmatic approach at the bureaucratic level with a strong collective identity at the cultural and political level. Left alone, the Palestinians in Jerusalem are defining themselves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the effect of antisemitism on Jews, a significant factor in understanding Jews and Israel. The author believes that Jews have some ideas or beliefs that are held despite being opposed by reality. Six alleged delusions of the Jews are detailed which include Jews underestimating important things such as their enemies and the power of ideas, their liberal belief that mankind is improving and justice will eventually rule, and their one-size-fits-all theory.

This paper aims to report a possible warning sign for dangerous behavior in delusional psychotic patients. We demonstrate an association between aggressive or auto-aggressive ideation and 'ego-dystonic' grandiose delusions, where the patient believes to possess unique qualities but finds them unbearable. The study is based on the sample of seven interviews with five psychotic in-patients at the Kfar Shaul Mental Health Center, Jerusalem, Israel. All patients experienced an acute psychotic episode, and committed acts of aggression or suicidality. The research method is narrative analysis of semi-structured interviews. Patients report ideas of grandiose self-identification with deities, Biblical figures or celebrities, yet report their reluctance to be in these high positions due to feelings of unworthiness, withdrawal, and social isolation. Resulting frustration arguably leads to aggressive and suicidal ideation or actions. Contrary to the established view, grandiose delusions are not free of association with (auto-)aggression. The patient's ego-dystonic attitude towards his/her delusional identity may serve as the warning sign for dangerous behavior and, as such, should be searched for and recognized by the mental health professionals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evidence for an association between mental illness and violence has grown in recent years, leading many to ask why such an association exists. One hypothesis links elevated rates of violence among people with mental illness to a small set of psychotic symptoms--so called threat/control-override (TCO) symptoms. Several studies have supported this hypothesis, but none has examined which of the components, threat or control-override--if either--predominates in explaining violence. To explore this issue we used data from a two-stage epidemiological study (n = 2741) conducted in Israel. Data on TCO symptoms were collected using two methods--fixed-format self-report questions from the first stage and psychiatrists' ratings based on interviews using the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia (SADS) from the second. Results show that both a measure of threat and a measure of control-override are independently associated with violent behaviors. Results also show that neither method--neither fixed-format questions nor psychiatrist rating--predominates in explaining violence. In sum, these results indicate that both the threat and the control-override components of the TCO concept are useful in predicting violent behaviors and that a better measurement of the TCO concept is achieved using a multimethod approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Koro syndrome, a 'special cultural psychiatric syndrome', is encountered in South China, Malaysia and Indonesia, especially among people of Chinese origin. There are only eight case reports of Koro from the Western hemisphere. We present a typical primary Koro patient from Israel. Jewish cultural mores are a contributory factor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Jerusalem syndrome is an acute psychotic state observed in tourists and pilgrims who visit Jerusalem. The main symptom of this disorder is identification with a character from the Bible and exhibiting behaviours which seems to be typical for this character. The article presents an overview of cultural and demographic factors associated with the appearance of the Jerusalem syndrome. Three main categories of the syndrome were identified with special focus on the category unconjoined to previous psychopathology which can be described as the 'pure' form of the Jerusalem syndrome. The main diagnostic criteria for the 'pure' type and the sequence of seven clinical stages of the Jerusalem syndrome were described. The article contains a review of the hypothesis about the causes of Jerusalem syndrome with special attention given to the role of places of particular meaning for religious tradition.

8 cases of acute mental disorders among Israelis travelling in the Far East are presented. The most common symptoms were hallucinations, paranoid delusions, agitation and depression. The important precipitating factors were drug abuse, reaction to the foreign environment and malarial prophylaxis. Treatment included creating a nonhostile environment, the presence of a Hebrew-speaking physician, psychopharmacotherapy and prompt evacuation to Israel. Most patients improved markedly and returned to normal functioning.

A descriptive study of all the admissions to a psychiatric hospital in Israel during the first month of the persian Gulf War was carried out. There was no decline in the number of admissions, and all the admitted 31 patients were civilians. War-related symptoms were manifest at the admission of 12 patients. Delusions of war-related content were prevalent, sometimes with corresponding hallucinations; three cases with these features are described briefly. There appeared to be an over-representation of female patients whose families originated in the Persian Gulf area. These findings may help in the planning of psychiatric services for similar future emergencies.

Disturbances of psychotic intensity resulting from external trauma at times of crisis and tension have been described in the literature, particularly in combat reactions, including the Saddam syndrome. Acute psychoses as reactions to mystical-religious fervor have also been described. We describe 2 clusters of patients admitted with an acute, delusional, psychotic picture against the background of the Vanunu treason trial and later the strong messianic expectations aroused among the followers of the Rebbe of Lubavitch. Both of these events received extensive coverage in the Israeli press and electronic telecommunication media. The emergence of the mental disturbances and the content of the psychoses were linked to the particularly strident and dramatic media coverage of these 2 events. The impact of the reports of wide-spread messianic fantasies in the contemporary news bulletins on those with preexisting premorbid sensitivity was sufficient to trigger the psychoses. The delusional content was topical, and not that of the traditional psychotic delusions such as that of being Napoleon. This emphasizes that not only an authentic major external trauma such as a war is capable of triggering psychosis, but also emotionladen, stressful news items, frequently repeated in the media (such as reports of espionage or messianic fervor), may have similar effects.