depression

by toddy 21 Replies latest jw friends

toddy

englishman,i wrote yesterday that i worked for a bunch of j.w's,and you said window cleaning or double glazing,how did you know?
ChuckD

Pandora,
Although they may not openly seek out those people who are (for lack of a better word) gullible by nature, the society does make a point of targeting people when their emotions and resolve are compromised due to life circumstances, such as after experiencing the loss of a loved one. People who find it hard to process their grief in a healthy way are going to be more susceptible to their message. Also, the society's message that "the world is a mess" does not ring true with most people. For those for whom the world seems evil and foreboding, that is quite a reassuring siren song. Well-adjusted and happy people just do not see the destruction of the world by God as a positive action.
ballistic

In English congregations, they have a the phrase "kingdom-smile".
This is the kind of smile only a depressed Jehovah's Witness can manage.
The smile is tight and wan, and any claims of happiness have a hollow and superficial ring. Between the smiles, the face reveals deeply etched signs of tension and depression, and shows of enforced joyfullness rarely last long.
I was told to put on this smile many times by an Elder.
I was too far out... and not waving but drowning - Stevie Smith
toddy

if i was to mention this "kingdom smile" to a j.w,how would they react?
Englishman

englishman,i wrote yesterday that i worked for a bunch of j.w's,and you said window cleaning or double glazing,how did you know?
Toddy, I'd be interested in knowing who and where. Email is always open.
Englishman.
..... fanaticism masquerading beneath a cloak of reasoned logic.
bikerchic

In the physcio-babble world depression is anger turned inward. Hummm all those talks, WT studies ect...on how we are to be loving to one another, long suffering yadda,yadda,yadda....in otherwords we were all taught to "stuff-it", to not feel what we feel, hear what we hear and see what we see or to speak about it. Depression is taught in the orginization, then we are to rely on Jehovah and his orginization for help when they haven't a clue the brothers are trained to help us with our spritual matters not our emotional problems. And then of course you are taking a big chance if you go for outside help, yeah right! It was there that I learned how to deal with my anger, that I was intitled to be angry I was taught to deal with it in a safe, legal and constructive way. What a relief! I understood fully the scripture (sorry no Bible handy) and this will be a bit of a hatchet job on the scripture...."not to let the sun set in an angry state", I can't remember all the rest of it, but it no where does it say that we shouldn't get angry as we were taught by the society. Anger handled in safe, legal, constructive ways for you and others brings about emotional health. Think about it then get angry! LOL
My .02 cents worth.
Life is like a 10 speed bike, we all have gears we never use.
C. Schultz
seven006

There are as many causes for depression as there are cures and methods of coping with it. Most forms of depression are a result of a trigger mechanism that results in neurochemical release that alters the positive functioning of the human brain. As an example when a person experiences a state of sudden fear the bodies naturel defenses releasees a flow of adrenaline into the brain that in many cases gives the body above average strength that aids in either a fight or flight response.
Being raised a JW there are many controlled behavior triggers that are placed in the mind to react to various negative stimuli. Constantly hearing that the end of the wicked system of things is right around the corner is a major one of them. If they feel they are not living up to an almost impossible rules and regulations to survive such a catastrophe it keeps their brain on a constant state of natural chemical imbalance that concentrates on the release of chemicals that respond to negative experiences. Every time they hear a bit of negative news such as a looming recession, out break of a war some where on the planet, large natural disaster or even a small bit of negative news such as a drive by shooting or local murder their mind is automatically triggering a controlled response to react in a state of panic. Even though they do not respond in an immediate physical manner the brain still adjusts to a defensive mode because of the controlled mind set that has been virtually hard wired into their brain and it releases the appropriate neurochemical reaction to the negative stimuli. As a JW you poses a salvation trigger (thoughts of surviving into a paradise earth) that should equalize the fear response trigger but in most cases the feeling of not being able to qualify for the salvation level does not stimulate the proper antidotal type chemicals to neutralize the defensive ones. Thus you end up in almost a constant state of depression brought on by an overactive release of defensive brain chemistry.
Now you can begin to understand how those of us that have been raised in the religion but have chose to leave it as an adult can end up suffering from a similar state of depression. The simple fact is our minds at a very young age have been hard wired to associate negative news with death. A simple and definite mental reaction that tells us that someone is going to die as a consequence to a negative occurrence and if we do not do exactly as we are told that "someone" just might indeed be us. There has been countless studies done that prove without a doubt that what your mind has been programed to believe during and up to age 11 is in your mind to stay. Those hard wired thoughts are like application programs of your computer that control what ever input or use of the program that it controls. No matter what you try and do with the application program it will only let you out put what it's programed to allow.
Even though you may think that you no longer believe in the war of Armageddon and the paradise earth to follow your hard wired mind still reacts as if you do. This is why you may experience a slight feeling of depression after hearing a bit of negative news. Your mind automatically releases the defense chemicals it is so use to releasing since childhood and puts you into a state of subconscious panic. Most of the time you will fell depressed without even knowing why. Classic mind conditioning is a very hard thing to change. I have heard so many exJW expressing some alternative source of the "salvation trigger" to replace the one they were programed with as a young JW. For some, its the love of their kids, others have another religion, their jobs, their families, friends, passion for a cause, etc.
A new salvation trigger "can be" essential to over write the programed false salvation trigger that you still have buried deep in your mind. What helps in adjusting this automatic response is realizing you have it in the first place. Once you can identify it for what it is and observe your subconscious reaction to negative input you can then begin to adjust it. Just because you have learned enough to come to the conclusion that the teachings of the JW's are false doesn't mean those hard wired reactions to their trigger responses have changed in your subconscious programing that is still hiding in the corners of your mind. Just ask yourself a question, have you ever felt depressed for no real apparent reason? Next time you do, trace back the events you have either recently experienced or heard about and see if your mind just might have reacted to it in a depressive manner. If it has, you just might be able to start figuring out why you unknowingly get depressed and then begin to change it.
This takes a lot of concentration and developing the ability to observe your reactions to things and question them fully. A simple exercise is when you react to something ask yourself how do you really feel about it, are your feelings a result of who you are and how you feel or are they just a programed reaction that you really haven't put a lot of thought into. This exercise is just the start, there are many others to try so that you can come to an understanding of who you really are and how you really fell about things in your life.
Dave
DannyBear

Dave,
You have done alot of soul searching my man!
***Being raised a JW there are many controlled behavior triggers that are placed in the mind to react to various negative stimuli. ***
It took me several years away (6-10) before recognizing those automatic tapes, turning on in my mind.
What makes these programed responses so incidious is that they usually, kick in when you face some sort of milestone or crisis in your life. Damn the wtbs for this invasion of the mind! Of course they will counter, saying that it is 'a well trained consience'.
*** The simple fact is our minds at a very young age have been hard wired to associate negative news with death. A simple and definite mental reaction that tells us that someone is going to die as a consequence to a negative occurrence and if we do not do exactly as we are told that "someone" just might indeed be us. ***
I now believe that jw's as a whole, fear death more than the average joe. Their entire lives are centered around 'life everlasting'...with the very intense caviat you so eloquently stated:
***Even though they do not respond in an immediate physical manner the brain still adjusts to a defensive mode because of the controlled mind set that has been virtually hard wired into their brain and it releases the appropriate neurochemical reaction to the negative stimuli. As a JW you poses a salvation trigger (thoughts of surviving into a paradise earth) that should equalize the fear response trigger but in most cases the feeling of not being able to qualify for the salvation***
This response I noted in myself. Several situations occured in my work at the time, which did in fact trigger such responses. To this day 22 yrs later, these 'triggers' still fire, sometimes when least expected. Damn.
A really good post Dave. It is healing just to read about another's own self discovery, that mirrors your own.
Thanks for the comments.
DannyBear
ballistic

seven, your post was both informative and usefull,
however, I wish to re-adjust the balance of your argument.
You correctly state there are many causes for depression.
I happen to believe that the JW organisation may both attract and create depressive personalities.
But I also understand that depression is a naturally occuring disease which affects 1 in 3 people at some point in their lives, to one extent or another.
The only reason I bring this up is because while reading your post, one may think,"great, the Jehovah's Witnesses are responsible for ALL my ills", while in actuall fact, depression is an illness just like cancer.
I don't in any way mean that being a JW does not add to or trigger depression which I believe it can.
I was too far out... and not waving but drowning - Stevie Smith
Kat_

Dave,
WOW! I can't put into words everything that I am thinking but your post blew me away. I don't know how much of your post applied to me but I felt I related a little to it. I used to have an irrational fear of death that I couldn't find the cause for. I used to lie awake at night just worrying that I or someone I love would die and how I would not be able to handle the latter. Mostly my kids...I most often had this extreme worry about my kids dying all of the sudden. This would literally keep me awake for hours. Just the thought of death itself; I dwelled on it. I couldn't get it out of my mind. I started to think there was something clinically wrong with me.
I was born into the 'truth' and have, from the time I can remember, been afraid, no...TERRIFIED of Armageddon and the subsequent destruction. Whenever a big storm would blow through town I'd start crying and asking my mother if Armageddon was here. When the Gulf War came around I was convinced, in my warped mind, that it was a sign that the end was iminent.
I can only say that I wasn't crazy after all, thank God. (Well, I hope I wasn't crazy!) Things changed when I 'left' the 'truth'. I had been inactive for a long time but never stopped believing. Now I don't worry about death so much anymore because I no longer believe that I will be vengefully destroyed one day soon. I no longer believe that my children will be destroyed because I am not a JW. It was that simple. I guess that all those years I was sure that I wasn't good enough to make it to Paradise and I let it affect me deeply. Now that I no longer believe what I was taught, I feel 100% better about life in general. I no longer worry that I will cause the death of my children. I think that was a huge problem for me. I still worry about many things but no more than anyone else. So I truly believe that being a JW can cause depression and/or anxiety in some people. I don't know if it's common but it's definitely very, very believable.
Kat

depression

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