Were YOU Depressed When You Were A Witness? (page 3)

Honesty

Depressed, on meds, seeing 2 different pschotherapists.

Now:

No Depression

No meds

No psychotherapists

Happy and free to worship Jesus without the threat of being destroyed by Jehovah.

DON"T YOU FEEL SORRY FOR jw's?

sspo

One of the elder told me that 50% of the congr. was on prozac, that is true of my wife jw family and not at all with my family that are " worldly"

I was BORN depressed. It's a family thing. But being a JW certainly didn't do it any good. I had a nervous breakdown as a teenager and take me to a shrink or put me in the hospital??? HEAVEN AND THE WATCHTOWER FORBID!!!

Have been on meds for the last 15 years or so...leaving the JW's helped somewhat...but I think chronic depression is always there...lurking, lurking, lurking...no matter what circumstances you find yourself in. I can't say anymore...this subject is too damn depressing.

delilah

Personally, I believe it's because a JW can NEVER do enough to satisfy God or the elders

Bingo! That's how I felt...I felt that nothing I did was ever going to be good enough. Meeting after meeting, being told to bring up our hours, yadda yadda. Suddenly 10 hours was not good enough, it was bringing the congregation average down....

Twitch

ummm, yea
i left in my late teens but i recall feeling much like what i know now as depression. how much of it was that or being a teen and/or dealing with the constant fighting and knocking heads over dub issues is hard to say. more of the latter i would say as that was the most difficult and confusing issue. but i had alot of the symptoms. i turned my frustration into learning an instrument, obsessively at the time as i recall. no regrets there, it kinda saved me in a escapist/challenge/rebellion kinda way.

bigmouth

I can't add any more.
The overwhelming sense of never being good enough.
Inclined towards perfectionism + WTB&TS 'falling short of the mark' constantly extinguishes the spirit.
Years of thinking a certain way takes at least as many years to undo.
Pete

Inquisitor

There was a period in my life where I was chronically depressed. I wasn't born with it cos I was a happy kid when I was younger. But in my teens, it ws bad. It wasn't your typical teenage angst though I suspect that the phase did contribute to my misery. I would have no appetite, didn't want to go out, didn't want to watch TV, cry a lot, hurt myself physically, contemplate suicide. While I cannot blame everything on my JW upbringing, I CAN AND WILL BLAME THEM FOR THEIR demonization of the world.

"Everyone on the "outside" is not good company."

"Reading the Bible brings you Happiness"

"Fellowship with God's household is wholesome" (It wasn't. If you've ever been in a congregation with arrogant elders and power hungry young men you might know what I mean. It never ceases to amaze me how the power of God's Word cannot compel these ones to change.)

"We must not shy away from being DIFFERENT in this world"

The last message was particularly damaging to my ability to socialise and interact with other youths at school. I would never curse, express disgust at obscene jokes, feign disinterest in sex, reject well-meaning peers (non-JWs) who tried to be my friend ("they're not good company, no point getting close to them"), take pride in the derision I suffered from my peers for being different. I was a martyr, product of the pharisaical self-righteousness of the bloody old men of the Watchtower, but more significantly, I wasn't happy.

How could one be happy when he constantly defies his true nature?

Now that I'm away from my home cong and I do what I want, when I want, I am beginning to see that life is truly enjoyable if you choose to make it that way. You needn't postpone such simple pleasures for a future Paradise that will never come in your lifetime, if ever.

INQ

Soledad

Oh yes I was. I was on medication for panic attacks, anxiety, sleep disorders. I also had an eating disorder, abused diuretics and diet pills, tried to commit suicide twice and cut myself a few times. That all went away as soon as I quit the cult.

blondie

Well, there is depression and there is depression.

Some people are depressed in response to the environment in the WTS. They leave, get help, get better, and find they can live without the drugs.

Some people are depressed, leave the WTS, and are still depressed and find they have a medical condition that requires drug treatment, so finally start taking the drugs they need and getting the counseling to adjust.

Just something to think about. Not all depression is induced by the WTS (certainly its not helped by the WTS). But once away from the WTS and its negativity about psychiatry in its inimitable passive-aggressive fashion, people improve.

Blondie

sunshineToo

I was going to commit a suicide. My life as a jw was hopeless. When I decided to kill myself, I felt better. When I got out of that terrible organization, I found a happiness that I had never known before. My life had a new beginning full of hope and possibilities.

Were YOU Depressed When You Were A Witness?