Illnesses in The Congregations

Country Girl

Did any of you ever notice that what seemed a larger percentage of people in the congregation seem to have serious illnesses than the same slice of people in the world with the same demographics? It seems that our congregation had a large percentage of people with mental illnesses, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, etc. These diseases (although some MD's classify them as psychosomatic) have been known to be aggravated or even induced by stress. I have even read/heard several people comment on the fact that as soon as they left their illnesses cleared up, or at least the symptoms lessened. Do you have an experience like that, or know someone with an experience like that?

CG

zeroday

I remember hearing of an elder chastizing a long time pioneer sister when he learned she was on antidepressents. That's not suppose to happen in the "Spiritual Paradise". I did notice alot of stress induced illnesses in the congos.

done4good

The only people I've ever known with CFS are jws.

j

fullofdoubtnow

There seemed to be a lot of people in my kh sufferring from depression, at least 15% of the regulars were affected. Also, there were quite a few cfs sufferrers as well. There seems to be a far higher percentage of jws with these afflictions than in the rest of society in general.

Obviously, being a jw can be bad for you.

Country Girl

I know a lot of CFS suffers in the congregations, too. I have seen a few posts on this board about people who have recovered health after leaving. Any of those out there that want to share their stories? I sometimes wonder if some of the other authoritarian religions have congregations with high amounts of people with illnesses that are primarily stress-aggravated, or stress-induced?

CG

tall penguin

Cognitive dissonance doesn't do a body good.
I was diagnosed with CFS/Fibromyalgia at age 17. Definitely the stress of the jw lifestyle added to my ill health. I think though that there are certain personality types that tend towards these particular illnesses and these are found in greater numbers in the jws. Whether the org creates these personalities or just attracts them is perhaps a more interesting question.
tall penguin

tall penguin

Just did some research on CFS and personality type. Found the following:
"The role of personality in the development and perpetuation of chronic fatigue syndrome.
White C, Schweitzer R.
Department of Psychology and Counselling, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia.
OBJECTIVES: Qualitative evidence suggests that personality may have special relevance to the predisposition, precipitation and perpetuation of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). This study compares three dimensions of personality - perfectionism, self-esteem, and emotional control in the personality profiles of CFS patients (N=44) and a control group (N=44) without a history of CFS, matched for age and gender.
METHODS: Participants were assessed on the MPS [Frost RO, Marten P, Lahart C, Rosenblate R. The dimensions of perfectionism. Cognit Ther Res 1990;14:449-468.]; the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale [Rosenberg M. Society and the Adolescent Self-image. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ Press, 1965.]; the Courtauld Emotional Scale [Watson M, Greer S. Development of a questionnaire measure of emotional control. J Psychosom Res 1983;27:299-305.] and the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale [Crowne DP, Marlowe D. A new scale of social desirability independent of psychopathology. J Consult Psychol 1960;24:349-354.].
RESULTS: Analyses revealed that the CFS group reported higher levels than the control group on the Total Perfectionism score and Doubts about Actions and the Concern over Mistakes subscales. Furthermore, the CFS group also reported lower self-esteem than the control group. No difference between the two groups was found on the dimensions of emotional control and social desirability response bias.
CONCLUSION: A developmental model of CFS, which considers the predisposing, precipitating, and perpetuating factors that may account for the course of the disorder irrespective of etiology, is proposed. In the context of the results, recommendations for practice and future research are discussed."

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=11033370&dopt=Abstract

esw1966

There were a lot of people with mental illness that I knew of in Wisconsin and as far as the psychosomatic ones they were prevelant as well. A lot of people trying to explain away their symptoms with false diseases rather than what was actually happening to them from the society. At the end, I had atrial fibrillation ( an irratic heartbeat ), I had lost 30 pounds in a short period of time (less than a year) with no explanation, I was at my doctor asking about if I had depression and we both concurred that I did not yet something was definately wrong! At the end, I LOST it with the ex wanting to admit me to a hospital. I was having 3 migraines a week. And the same week I was getting disfellowshipped and told 'she wanted a divorce', I was going in for a CAT scan to see if I had cancer. Not the best of my weeks! (df'd Thursday, cat scan friday) Now that I am out of there, I have regained the old person I KNEW I was but hadn't known for YEARS! I am happy! Few migraines. NO cancer - told it was anxiety and depression causing too much acid in the stomach, big surprise. OFF all the old meds and NO recurrence of symptoms! LIFE IS GREAT!

choosing life

CFS and FMS are not diseases exclusively of JWs. But they have been linked to people with what they call -A Personality Type. This type of person tends to be more of a perfectionist and a people pleaser. Now when you add the impossible demands of yhe JWs and the cognitive dissonance required to make sense of their teachings you can see why they would be very prevalent amongst them. As for disappearing after leaving, I'm not so sure. Stress is a great aggravator of most diseases, so it depends on how much strss a person is under. Leaving and shunning has its own stresses. If you can remove yourself from these stresses, then there is a chance for improvment. But until they discover the cause of these diseases, it does the persons suffering no good to call them psychological. They used to claim that Rheumatoid Arthritis was psychosomatic untill they came out with the proper knowledge of this disease.

One thing is for sure. These are primarily diseases of women and as such get little respect. I hope your right and distance from the borg will help, but I have yet to experience it.

Country Girl

For myself: even though I didn't KNOW it at the time, I was severely depressed most of the time that I was in the JWs. This could have been genetic, yes, because my Mother was severly depressed, also. But when she GOT the truth, she became less depressed, at least she didn't go to the mental hospital anymore. When I left my family at the age of 17, I felt like the hand that had been choking my neck for years was suddently released. However, I also felt a great shock being all of a sudden in a world that I had no social skills to deal with. That was hard. I learned a lot of lessons the hard way, which I might have been spared from if I had been raised as a normal kid having normal relationships.

My stomach aches and headaches quit when I left, that's for sure.

CG

Illnesses in The Congregations

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