(Jewish Group) Antisemitism and protests in the United States trigger PTSD in Holocaust survivors [View all]

After surviving the Nazis in her childhood, Goldie Jacoby has sought strategies to manage post-traumatic stress disorder, such as studying psychology and speaking about her experiences.

When Hamas attacked Israel 10 months ago, she broke down.

“When Oct. 7 happened, it got me totally in shock. I sat down and I didn’t want to get up,” Jacoby, now 87, told the New York Jewish Week. “I was all by myself and I was crying nonstop. It brought me right back to where I was at that age and the fear.”

Her PTSD has long been tied to stimuli including small spaces, like doctor’s offices, that remind her of the barn stall in Poland where she and her family hid for three years. Another trigger is the green uniforms of highway patrol officers, which remind her of Nazis. Now, another trigger has emerged: the surge in antisemitism in the United States since Oct. 7.

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I am sure this comes as a shock to some.