by Gill 58 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
Good points, Gary
Yes, just this week at the mtg comments were made how careful you need to be when making decisions to see a professional for mental problem.
Ok then, just stay home going nuts, lock yourself in a room, sit in the corner so that you can keep your faith and wait for the new system............., it's around the corner.
LadyLee:
Years ago when I finally got permission from the elders to see a professional they gave one stipulation - "Don't say you are a JW."
Had an almost identical thing said to me too. I was going to see a therapist (I didn't even ask for permission) and a Sister™ told me "Whatever you do, just don't tell the headshrinker that you're a Witness™. If you do, he'll think we're all crazy." Looking back at it now, I should have been way more offended by that comment than I was at the time.
Of course, I did just the opposite and spilled everything. That, in itself, was such a relief - and that's when things started turning around for me.
Gill:
Or do you think they fear that health professionals may actually calculate how many JWs are actually mentally unwell?
I think it's possibly a mixture of being afraid that it will be a form of Reproach™ on the Organization (instead of them being the Happiest People on Earth™, they'd be the Happiest People on Prozac!) - and the fear that what the WTS has said is true about mental health professionals introducing "demonic" independent reality based thinking into the JW's repertoire of coping skills. The Sister™ I mentioned above was very concerned about me becoming Demonized™ as a result of going to a therapist.
And also, do you think that a JW could be hindered from actually recovering from a mental illness, if they also tried to hold on to the WTBTS fantasy?
Depending on the nature of the mental illness, sometimes recovery is not the goal. Certain mental illnesses (such as OCD, bipolar disorder, chronic depression and schizophrenia, to name a few) can only be managed at best. The illnesses themselves are manifest by way of irrational thought patterns and behaviours. If you have a belief system that supports and endorses irrational beliefs (such as the belief that Satan the Devil is controlling everything outside the JWs) and you have a mental illness on top of that which is reinforces such irrational beliefs - and vice versa - it certainly isn't going to help anything. If you've seen the movie The Exorcism of Emily Rose, there is a similar situation where delusional hyper religious beliefs are a focal point of what appears to be paranoid schizophrenia, while the subject believed and behaved as though she was possessed by several demons.
Can a psychiatrist break the mental control that the WTBTS holds on a person?There's an old joke: how many psychiatrists does it take to change a lightbulb? The answer is "one, but the lightbulb has to really want to change". Psychiatry and psychology are not voodoo or witchcraft where the mental health professional takes control over the person's mind and forces or insidiously manipulates them to change what is wrong with them. What a good mental health professional will do for a person (in the absence of a psychopathological disease that requires chemical management) is teach them to recognize their own irrational thoughts and behaviours and teach them effective coping skills to deal with and overcome irrational thoughts and behaviours. It is patient centered and patient led. One of the skills I started learning was critical thinking, not just accepting what anyone told me at face value. As a JW, I was able to question things outside the realm of the JWs quite easily, but I didn't believe it was OK to do the same thing when it came to other JWs, Elders™, or the WTS, and that was the source of my internal conflict - I could see that things were not adding up, but in true JW fashion, I believed and was led to believe that the fault was mine, not the WTS's.
To be honest, I would have been totally ashamed to discuss what my beliefs were as a JW to a doctor because they sound so irrational when they actually come out of your mouth.I suppose this could be another reason why JWs are so reluctant to go to mental health professionals. Deep down, unless we've got someone primed through the early steps of indoctrination, the beliefs sound totally ridiculous to the average person. Fortunately, I've found that mental health professionals are among the least judgemental people I've ever encountered. Part of the training in medicine and nursing is learning to communicate therapeutically with people to put them at ease and allow them to disclose anything in confidence, and the easiest way to facilitate that communication is to not judge them. To a JW, where life revolves around judging everyone, it seems unfathomable that someone could do that, and actually believe that you are a good person even if you make mistakes.
I also think it is an extension of their old time beliefs. At one time JWs did not believe in doctors. If you look at mags from the 20/30/40 there are all kinds of cartoons and articles about doctors and their "quack" medicine. Eventually that changed. To me this is why people get JWs confused w/ Christian Scientists. It is not because of the blood issue but because JWs use to be very anti-all docs. JWs still don't trust doctors, they think if they go in for a flu shot that the doc is going to try and give them blood. The religion is made up of paranoid psychophrenics!
As for their no mental health help, it has everything to do w/ the JW look and how they will be perceived. When my grams was young and completely off her rocker (she was psychophrenic) the elders us to tell my gramps to "pray more" and to be a good husband. They knew that she would physically attack him and he would in turn beat the crap out of her. They knew what she did to my mom, but their advice was "pray more and Jah will remove the problem" Guess what that did not happen and eventually my grams was institutionalized because she was a hazard to herself and others. Granted the help back them was electric shock therapy, so I don't know that I would have wanted her to get that type of help either, but the fact remains that a lot of our families issues stem from those periods in my mother's life.
And as for the person who said that a lot of religions are anti-mental health ... I agree, the fundies are totally against it. But they are also the same religion freaks that say "pray more" and if you are faithful enough god will remove the problem.
IMHO Scully nailed it. Reproach on the Organisation, personal failure, and demon-inspired liberal thinking, in that order.
LG:
And as for the person who said that a lot of religions are anti-mental health ... I agree, the fundies are totally against it. But they are also the same religion freaks that say "pray more" and if you are faithful enough god will remove the problem.
Aside from the Scientologiests and the more extreme Charismatic churches, what denominations are you refering to?
The JW's took my wife of 20 years from me back in late 90's. We were eventually divorced in 2003. I had recommended, in fact had set up, an appointment with a marriage counselor to get an outside perspective. At first she agreed (the main reason I set up the appointment), the abruptly refused to go saying something about Jahoober taking care of everything. I did all I could to get her to change her mind, to no avail (I'm sure there was elder interaction with her, highly recommending that she not go with me). It was painfully evident, at least to me, that the WTBTS/JWs were going to do all they could to destroy our life, marriage, and family, which they eventually did (after all, I was an evil non-believing mate). Another incident similar to the above eventually did the trick. I had talked my ex-wife into going to dinner on one of her meeting nights (she was suppose to answer some questions, give a short talk, or something). We had spent "our time" together doing similar things together before the JWs got a hold of her. Anyway, before we were to leave for dinner she said she wanted to call someone (an elder I suspect) to let him/her know what she was doing. I asked her why, trying to explain to her that it was her decision, her life. She insisted on calling. No sooner had she got off the phone she ran (litterally) out the door saying something about dieing spiritually. I let her go rather than make a scene. What was interesting was that she did not say a word when she got home (2 hours later). No apologies, no explanations, no nothing. It was as if the incident never happened. I said nothing. This incident was the beginning of the end of our marriage. I see her very rarely, but when I do she acts and talks like a zombie, a robot. They have her so wrap up and packaged in their crazy doctrines. It's sad. I spend a lot of time remenicing about our time together pre-JW, and hope.
May gut feeling is that to be seen as having to have 'worldly' people sort out a JW's mental and emotional health would be seen by some as a failure to the 'spiritual paradise' that supposedly exists in the kingdom halls.
It's a shame because most bible believers of church goers I've met find peace and stability in their faith which can be a helpful supplement to their therapy.
steve
It's a shame because most bible believers of church goers I've met find peace and stability in their faith which can be a helpful supplement to their therapy.
Very good point. What does it say about a faith that is so vulnerable; that it cannot tolerate the unfettered and honest exploration into the mind that houses it?
Interesting thread!
When I was searching for alternative therapies to treat my illness I tried homeopathy. I tried two different homeopaths and the first consultation consists of at least an hour to an hour and a half. In that time the homeopath wants to know as much of one's background as possible as he/she believes this is essential to finding the root cause of one's illness.
I was very open about my life and mentioned my time as a JW. Both homeopaths told me that they had many JWs on their books suffering from mental problems, such as anxiety, stress, etc. Perhaps, in order to side-step the professional psychologists, JWs are using homeopathy as a "lesser evil".
Ian
The WTS and JWs demonize all medical professionals as lying in the bushes to shove a needle/blood transfusion in your arm. Homeopathy or what the WTS sees as that has been popular with JWs ever since vaccinations were forbidden and the Golden Age/Consolation had many weird medical ideas. I'm not surprised that mental health professionals are treated the same way. A JW told me about a witness who died with cancer that most likely could have been cured if they had started sooner but instead she went to a chiropractor.
Blondie
(((((((((((( Hondo )))))))))))))))
