Social isolation during the closure was difficult for all Israelis, and in fact for all people in the world. Much has been written and written about it. But do not mention those who are most hurt and forgotten, those who are thrown by the roadside - the mind contenders and their families who find it difficult to manage life even on ordinary days.

How do I know? Well, my first-degree relative has a manic depression, and since the Corona's entry into our lives I have helped him on a daily basis to deal with the condition.

All the support groups for the contestants, the psychological treatments, the meetings with the doctors - all disappeared at once, just vanished. The world collapsed, the pressure of us all increased because of the fear of the disease and the unknown, and because of the rules of social distance. It was precisely then that the entire community assistance system collapsed for the contestants and their families. There was no one to turn to and no one to talk to.

Think about the pressure that exists for Passover for regular spouses and families anyway, add hysteria to it, and now focus on the mental contenders - the weakest link in society - who remain with themselves in dealing with a new situation, with fear, with anxiety, with voices in mind, with chronic loneliness. .

True, once a week someone called us home for a five minute call to find out if we were alive, whether the patient hadn't become suicidal.

Of course, instead of the company that failed, I took responsibility. I became a full-time medical practitioner; I made sure to check for sanity, manage the medication, discuss vain thoughts, the general anxiety that comes into the house from the street and the media outlets. I also made sure to monitor every thought and deviation from the norm. In short, I died scared along with the challenger. I was terribly worried, I didn't sleep well until I was consumed with sleeping pills, and every night for two hours I physically broke up and shook uncontrollably. I felt a hammer bang on my head, stomach, lungs, I couldn't breathe, and lay in bed unable to move. It probably happened in the evenings because by then the kids had already gone to bed and the house was in control, which allowed me to break down into parts.

What am I saying? Why was that the case? Imagine the helplessness you felt at the beginning of the closure, when the whole world collapsed and you wanted to buy rolls of toilet paper for a year. Take this situation and place your responsibility on a man whose every change in his life makes him insane, a person who in seconds may think that Iran has invaded Israel, who want to kidnap him, whose drugs are poison. Feel the pressure in your chest? If so, you're just beginning to imagine a little, really a little bit, what I felt.

Was this a necessity for reality? Definately not! High-tech companies, banks, media outlets, the electric company - all of them worked. These are important, productive, significant sectors of a capitalist country. But social welfare and mental health? These are always neglected in the country. Even on ordinary days, every country's worker or therapist has a job overhead with hunger wages, because the weak squads in the company make no money and cash, they are just a yoke. our.

How did comedian Tal Friedman say, exaggeratingly representing Professor Les: "The old people? Who needs them? They will die." This is how I felt about the mental contenders.