In the early 1990s, doctors in Hiroshima discovered a stress-induced syndrome they called Takotsubo cardiomyopathy, or “broken heart syndrome” — a condition in which the heart’s left ventricle, responsible for pumping blood, loses its capacity in response to extreme stressors like war, natural disaster and the loss of loved ones. Prevalent among older women, that acute condition involves heart attack-like symptoms, including chest pain and pressure, light-headedness and dread.
More recently, Israeli doctors in Tel Aviv noted a spike in the condition after the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by the militant group Hamas and Israel’s subsequent incursion into (and devastation of) Gaza in response. The mothers of Israeli soldiers in particular have been affected, as have many who didn’t directly experience or witness the ravages of Oct. 7 against that country’s civilians. (Undoubtedly, something similar has been happening in Gaza too, but given the disastrous situation of the medical profession there, we have no way of knowing.)
