Moving places: a glance at the Gulf War from the sealed room

During the recent Gulf War a mental health team was set up to deal with immediate stress reactions and to help prevent future difficulties in a group of a few hundred temporarily relocated evacuees from a working- and lower-class suburb of Tel Aviv, Israel. The contextually specific acute stress reaction syndrome observed in the affected population is described. A conceptualization was formulated which served the staff to deal with the problems that arose during this period. Concepts such as potential space, stranger anxiety, environment mother, triangulation in families in conflict, disruption of continuity, and holding and containing were integrated in order to illuminate some aspects of the stressful situation and to deal with problems that arose. The reactions of the mental health professionals to the situation and the relationships of the team with the evacuees and with their colleagues are discussed.