Fading: A Little Craziness Helps (page 3)

TheKings

Metatron - I will say it again, as I did in your previous thread about this: You might consider that quite a number of forum readers/users actually DO battle mental illness FOR REAL. Your flippant comments about pretending to be "crazy" are offensive. This is why there is such a stigma against mental illness. People don't view it as a real disease, and that if sufferers really wanted to, they could just wish their illness away. This type of attitude trivializes the difficulty in dealing with the disease and does no favors to those who really suffer.

i faced those issues and i thought the post was funny.

codeblue

lol

I will remember to always be permanently "depressed".........Not hard to do, btw...

My folks have been more than patient with me as I use the "depression and anxiety" card. It's worked wonders. They still speak to me, they still give me lots of affection. Of course, they keep saying, "sweetie, it has been a couple of years, how about just one meeting?". To which I say, "my nerves just can't handle it, mom....". :)

But you know what? It's actually the truth! My nerves can't take another moment of that craziness that takes place in there. And depression? Well, I'd definitely need some depression medicine a heck of a lot stronger than what I take now if I ever went back.

Silly that they afford for mental stuff. But heck, if it means I can keep my family....that's a-ok with me!

LittleToe

I'm sorry, I just don't think of mental illness is a "tactic". I would no more fake mental illness than I would fake having cancer. I found that writing a simple DA letter solved my issues of wanting the elders to stay away.

Each to their own. Needs must when the devil drives.

I understand the concerns over trivialising an important health issue, as I work in Mental Health Services, but I also know the costs attached to leaving the WTS. At the end of a skirmish, would you play dead on a battlefield to avoid getting shot by the victors? I think it's analogous...

luna2

I know it was easier for me than many other people here because I was the lone JW in my family at the time I started to fade. There had also been a death in my immediate family a few years before and so I think I was cut a lot of slack...no one wanted to push. I also think I'd been on the fringes of the congregation so long that I truly wasn't missed very much.

Seems to me that most of the time the depression card isn't a ruse. Being a witness is depressing, especially when you don't want to be one any more. Its merely a matter of not sucking it up and letting people know that you feel like shit all the time instead of hiding it behind a big, fake, JW-martyr smile.

truthseeker

Met,

I'm already playing the depression card, well, the sick note card anyway. It appears to be working.

Jim_TX

I took this post as a bit of humor... but also a bit of truth.

I know from my personal experiences with these fellas in the past... that they don't quite know how to handle folks that don't seem to respond to them on a 'normal' scale.

I sat there... despondant... non-communicative... staring off in the distance... or looking down... mumbling brief non-elaborative responses to their questions... etc.

After a bit... they looked at each other... and finally gave up on me - and their 'scripture reading' - and left.

I think another pair tried later to 'counsel' me... but met with similar results.

*srug*

Regards,

Jim TX

greendawn

We live in a stressful world and the dubs are not the most loving and supportive of people so at times some dubs can feel overwhelmed by circumstances so it is very believable to be so near to the edge. Good trick.

vitty

The irony is that when I was in I always felt depressed, when I started missing meetings I played the depression card even though I was far from depressed

Its a terrible thing that anyone has to use tactics to escape this cult...............we should just be able to say....."I dont want to do this anymore" and walk away

unique1

WOW, I can't believe this is working for all of you. I tried it and my parents (only JW family) said the only way to overcome it was to get to more meetings. The elders told me the same thing. The push to attend more meeting and go in field service became worse. Glad it is doing the opposite for most of you. Wish it had worked for me so I wouldn't have had to have my baptism nullified.

Fading: A Little Craziness Helps