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Fewer than 1% of soldiers who completed the original version of the program developed PTSD symptoms, compared with 5.3% in a control group that received placebo training.
By Shula Rosen
An attention-training program developed by Israeli researchers sharply reduced the risk of post-traumatic stress disorder among soldiers exposed to combat, with new findings showing PTSD rates nearly five times lower than among untrained troops.
The results, recently published in the American Journal of Psychiatry, are based on data from more than 500 soldiers who participated in a computer-based intervention designed to alter how attention is directed toward perceived threats.
Fewer than 1% percent of soldiers who completed the original version of the program developed PTSD symptoms, compared with 5.3% in a control group that received placebo training.
“It’s a simple program that shifts a soldier’s attention towards the threat on the screen,” Prof. Yair Bar-Haim, head of the National Center for Traumatic Stress and Resilience at Tel Aviv University, told Times of Israel.
The findings come as Israel’s Defense Ministry reports a growing mental-health burden from the war that began on October 7, 2023. The ministry’s Rehabilitation Department said this week it has treated about 22,000 wounded soldiers since the outbreak of the war, with roughly 58% suffering from PTSD or other psychological conditions.
By the end of 2026, officials expect another 10,000 wounded veterans to enter the system.
Bar-Haim said the intervention is rooted in basic survival mechanisms. “Attention to threat is a basic mechanism in human survival,” he said, adding that soldiers who under-allocate attention to danger may struggle to process traumatic events when they occur.
The research builds on studies Bar-Haim began in the IDF nearly two decades ago examining what factors predict PTSD. One key variable was threat-related attentional bias — the tendency to scan for danger even after immediate threats subside. To address this, researchers developed a short training exercise delivered on computers, requiring about seven minutes per session over four days.
Earlier trials conducted during basic training and initial deployment showed promising results after soldiers later saw combat in Operation Protective Edge in 2014. Follow-up assessments found substantially lower PTSD rates among those who had completed the training.
To confirm the effect, the team ran a larger, more controlled study in 2022–2023, testing both the original protocol and a modified version. The original proved most effective, with less than 1% of participants showing PTSD symptoms roughly 18 months later. “The original version is really the best one,” Bar-Haim said.
Despite the results, the program — which the IDF adopted in 2018 — was discontinued shortly before the current war. “There are very clear results now about the efficacy of this program,” Bar-Haim said. “The IDF implemented it in the past, and they should implement it again.”
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