Characteristics of calls to Israeli hotlines during the Gulf War

The current study presents results of a sun,ey of 3,215 calls received at s even centers of telephone emergency services (TES) in Israel during the Gul f War; when citizens of Israel experienced severe stress resulting from SCU D missile attacks, Whereas former surveys have shown that characteristics o f calls to TES in Israel are generally not affected by external stressogeni c events, a remarkable change was recorded in both the quantity and quality of calls received in TES centers in Israel during the Gulf War: The relati ve frequencies of problem categories presented by callers during the Gulf W ar revealed a significant increase in "environmental pressures, " a categor y that reflected the stressful situation of the war as opposed to intra- or interpersonal problems typical of peacetime calls. A comparison between th is group of "war calls" and a control group of "nonwar calls, " revealed th at the two groups represented populations of callers differing in sociodemo graphic characteristics, expectations, and benefits from the calls. Results are discussed in reference to the unique role of TES as a source of psycho logical first-aid in a community crisis situation.