How antisemitism affects mental health
Just like the ongoing and recent incidents of sexism, homophobia, Islamophobia and racism have left women, LGBTQ folks, Muslims and people of color feeling vulnerable in the U.S., the recent Hamas ambush of Israeli civilians — considered the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust, coming amid already historic U.S. levels of anti-Jewish harassment and assault — has left many Jewish people grappling anew with the pain of antisemitism.
The mental health fallout of that is great, say experts, just as it is for all marginalized groups who are targeted because of their identities.
Here's what antisemitism —and its repercussions — has in common with other forms of prejudice, as well as how it’s unique, according to experts.
What is antisemitism?
While the Merriam-Webster dictionary defines it as “hostility toward or discrimination against Jews as a religious, ethnic or racial group,” that doesn’t quite cover the complexities, according to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). The ADL has been tracking incidents of antisemitism in the U.S. since 1979 and found the count from 2022 — at 3,697 and up 36% from the year before — to be the highest on record.
It notes that the more complete working definition, as written in 2016 by the 32-member nations of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) and adopted by groups that include the ADL and the American Jewish Committee (AJC), begins this way: “Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.”
But why, asks the ADL, “did it take a large panel to define a single term? Because antisemitism contains features that are both similar and different from other forms of hate or prejudice, reflecting a long, complex and specific set of histories regarding Jewish and non-Jewish relations.”
The working definition cites specific contemporary examples of antisemitism — a view the ADL says is held by over a billion people worldwide, including:
Calling for or justifying the killing or harming of Jews in the name of a radical ideology or extremist view of religion
Making dehumanizing or stereotypical allegations about Jews such as their power as a collective (i.e., through a world conspiracy of controlling the media, economy or government)
Denying the fact and scope of the Jewish genocide during World War II, or accusing the Jews as a people of inventing or exaggerating the Holocaust (an event a shocking 80% of Gen Z Americans lack very basic knowledge of)
Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, such as by claiming that the existence of Israel is a racist endeavor
Holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the state of Israel
The examples that relate to Israel, notes the AJC, are for some “the most controversial.” But they are intended, it notes, “to explain where and how anti-Israel animus can become a form of antisemitism, separate and apart from criticism of Israel. These include drawing analogies to the Nazis, declaring Israel a racist — and thus illegitimate — endeavor, holding it to standards expected of no other democratic state, and holding Jews collectively responsible for its actions.”
What antisemitism shares with other forms of discrimination
A 2022 study found that religious violence increases anxiety in both Jews and Muslims, even if they have not been personally targeted.
But the shared effects of prejudices go way beyond that for many groups.
At the American Psychiatric Association, which released a statement last week condemning the recent attacks on Israel and noting that “antisemitism and all forms of prejudice and hatred are unacceptable,” immediate past president Dr. Rebecca Brendel tells Yahoo Life, “We know that discrimination of any sort, whether it be based on race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, any kind of discrimination is toxic to our health and to our mental health and to our well-being.”
Dan Rosen, professor and chair of the counseling and health psychology department at Bastyr University in Seattle, tells Yahoo Life: "At one level, the effects of antisemitism need to be understood differently from racism, sexism or homophobia due the unique historical context and experiences of the Jewish people. At another level, there are important commonalities for groups that have been targeted, dehumanized and excluded, and it is essential that we pay attention to these shared experiences across multiple communities."
Those experiences, according to Halina Brooke, an Arizona-based psychotherapist and founder of the Jewish Therapist Collective, a community of 1,500 clinicians formed in 2020, may include feelings of depression, anxiety or isolation that could result from perceived micro-aggressions — such people making assumptions that "might not sound so bad" but are hurtful and inaccurate, like "all Black women are aggressive" or "a Jewish person must be good with money," she says.
Feeling alone may also arise from a lack of support from friends, colleagues and social media connections. "People are isolating and turning inward and censoring themselves, and a lot are met with aggressions, gaslighting and whataboutisms … We see that on both sides of the [current] conflict," Brooke tells Yahoo Life.
Another common reaction to being in certain targeted groups, according to Sari Kosdon, a Los Angeles clinical psychologist whose past research has examined the effects of antisemitism, is feeling compelled to keep one's identity secret. "[With] people who can assimilate or hide their identity, it can be a similar comparison," she tells Yahoo Life. "Jewish people may worry about being discriminated against and therefore may not reveal their identity, just as people part of the LGBTQ community also worry about potential discrimination."
What’s unique about antisemitism
One major distinction, say experts, is a belief held by many that Jewish people are of a privileged group and therefore cannot be oppressed.
"The thing that makes antisemitism different to me is a lot of the stereotypes and tropes about us are that we are wealthy, powerful and privileged," says Brooke. "That goes back to really old European antisemitism. And we've seen a lot of those tropes infect even other minority communities, especially with all the discourse in social justice communities about power and privilege … it's just people swallowing without chewing that 'Oh, if this population is privileged, then they can’t have oppression'… So that makes it really hard and kind of puts us in the space where there's not a seat at the table for us."
Adds Brooke: "When people try to make this hard line in the sand by very narrowly defining what it means to be Jewish and untethering us from our ancestral validated homeland and our culture, and just say, 'Oh, well, it's a religion,' it’s deeply dehumanizing and invalidating and takes away a part of a person’s identity."
As Rosen noted in a podcast following the 2018 Tree of Life synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh, "Jews don’t fit neatly or simply into any single category … Jews are talked about at one level as a cultural group that one is born into, and another level as a religion that people can be born into or choose," and are too often categorized simply as "white."
"Certainly, to neo-Nazis or white supremacists, Jews have never been considered white," he added. "When my grandfather emigrated in the earlier part of the 20th century, he was not considered a white person, he was considered a Jewish person," before that definition of white "broadened" after World War II to include groups who were Jewish and Irish, for example. Further, he noted the great diversity within the Jewish community, including "10 to 20 percent" people of color.
There is also a paucity of psychological research on the effects of antisemitism — leading to a lack of discourse that "may perpetuate the notion that antisemitism is not a problem," notes Kosdon in her 2021 study, "The Experience of Being Jewish: Living With Antisemitism."
Her research leaned partly on the first-ever method to measure antisemitic stress, created by Rosen in 2018.
"There are multiple reasons why American Jews have been ignored in psychological research, and one of them is the problematic notion that the Jewish experience in the United States is identical to that of the dominant culture," Rosen tells Yahoo Life. "While many Jews have found this country to be safe and have prospered here, there remains a distinct history and cultural experience for American Jews that provides meaningful definition in this historical moment." The common narrative that Jewish people everywhere are "white colonizers, unworthy of empathy or protection," he says, "denies millennia of historical context and a diverse Jewish population."
Many times, such rhetoric can lead to feelings of betrayal and internalized antisemitism, notes Brooke, leaving many Jewish people "at this fork in the road where you have to either betray yourself to keep your friends or reject your friends to stay true to yourself … making people choose between community care and self-care."
Finally, and perhaps most powerfully distinct with antisemitism, is the long shadow of the Holocaust for Jewish people.
"Antisemitism is one of the oldest forms of racism, and it runs deep — and is, in the memories of many still alive, a genocide that had nearly decimated the global Jewish population within the last century," says Brendel. "And so, in that sense, antisemitism and seeing traumatic terrorist events unfold against Jewish people is particularly toxic for those who are affected.”
Kosdon, in her study, found levels of antisemitism significantly associated with depression, survivor guilt proneness and self-hate, with 30% of respondents reporting they feel unsafe when identifying as Jewish. It also found that "the shadow of the Holocaust lingers," as 42% of respondents made mention of it in some way, noting, "While not all participants were Holocaust descendants, higher levels of survivor guilt may point to the potential potency of intergenerational trauma."
In these times, Kosdon says, "I personally feel and have witnessed that in the face of massive- scale tragedy, there is an increase of fear of being openly Jewish as well as survivor guilt — not only guilt associated with having survived an attack but also guilt around being able to live openly Jewish in relative safety. … We are all terrified, losing sleep, having difficulty focusing and are shaken as a community. It is hard to wrap your head around violence perpetuated in a way that is reminiscent of the Holocaust."
What can help
Experts say it's important to give yourself some grace. "I’ve heard a lot of feelings of guilt from people … that they are not handling the complexity enough, they are not representing our very small community perfectly enough," says Brooke, who says it's important to understand this: "We're all running on fumes right now, and everyone is doing enough."
She adds that it's important to reach out to trusted loved ones for support. "Go with your gut about reaching out to a friend: 'I’m having a tough time, do you have the bandwidth to sit down and talk about it?' They can say yes or no, but also it says to them, 'You might not see my suffering, but it’s real and I need some help' … If they are your friends, there's a high chance they’ll be supportive."
Further, Brooke suggests people check in with their local Jewish communities or seek out professional help through a therapist, particularly one who is Jewish.
Kosdon adds that getting actively involved through various volunteer activities can be healing.
"I have witnessed the beautiful resiliency and strength of my community," she says. "People checking in with each other, rallying together, packing supplies for soldiers, and even making art kits to heal/help process trauma. My research indicated that being involved in community can serve as a protective factor against depression and self-hatred, and is also associated with an increase of satisfaction with life."
