Hello; I am looking to this forum for some help in understanding the psychology behind Jehovah's Witnesses. Although I am not a member and not considering becoming one, I find that I am still impacted by the actions of my mother who was raised in the church. She renounced the church and has been athiest since before I was born, but she suffers psychologically from the influence of the church. It would help me to understand what the church teaches and how that impacts people, so I can better understand where she is coming from. Can anyone offer me insight to this topic? I would be really greatful to find a local group of educated, elloquent people to discuss this with. It would help me tremendously. Are there local gatherings of former Jehovah's Witnesses in the Northern California region, or does anyone know of an academic this is familiar with this topic? Thanks, Neil
understanding the psychology
by neillhowell 6 Replies latest jw friends
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ballistic
Yes, it's difficult to know where to start. You will find much info right here, or why not start off with this site: http://www.freeminds.org/ which has many useful articles.
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ballistic
Here's the link to the psycology section of that web site:
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Legolas
Welcome to the board!
Well your mother no doubt believed with all her heart that one day the earth would be a paradise with no evil people on it, animals at peace, etc etc...
But then she found out that it was all a lie and it probably crushed her.
And then on TOP of that...if she left on her own or was disfellowshipped...she would have been shunned by everybody she knew and loved!
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AK - Jeff
Here's a start. All of these books were written by former witnesses, and give a pretty good summary of beliefs and the reason they are so difficult to shed when one leaves [though that is not the thrust of them entirely]
Crisis of Conscience - Ray Franz [Former Member of the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses]
In Search of Christian Freedom - same author
Apocalypse Delayed - James Penton
The Gentile Times Reconsidered - Carl Olof Jonsson [about the eschatology of the Watchtower 607BCE to 1914CE failures and why]
Additionally, this forum has some of the sharpest exJW minds around if you lurk around awhile.
Jeff
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KW13
Welcome to the forum! We hope ya stay.
Look forward to your future posts e.t.c
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carla
Dr. Jerry Bergman (sp?) has and excellent book out about 'Mental Illness and Jehovah's Witnesses'. Something on that order, sorry books upstairs and everybody's sleeping still! I have run across some sites with information on mental illness with jw society as well. There are a limited number of studies done that I have found, but they are out there. Do a search.