by tula 54 Replies latest jw experiences
You are welcome to your opinion, tula.
However, the medical field as far as psychosis was in it's infancy in the early '70s.
The question raised is if possibly the stress of being a Witness could bring on psychosis.
It is now known that psychosis is a functional or organic illness. It is brain damage or disease.
It would be like asking if being a JW could be responsible for ones getting cancer.
Surely you can understand this.
I think the first order would be to find out if they were born with Schizophrenia and it is genetic, but I do believe there are forms of schizophrenia that can be triggered by traumatic life events, So finding out what caused their disease is of utmost importance.
Second, here in the USA it would be near to impossible to get the WT Society to pay anything, as they would play the "freedom of religion" card to the hilt.
If you can connect these illnesses with the secondary effects of the JW religion such as financial, medical, or other things that wont impede upon any other religions freedom, then you might,just might be able to hold them accountable.
From the Study: but suggests that either the Jehovah's Witnesses sect tends to attract an excess of pre-psychotic individuals who may then break down, or else being a Jehovah's Witness is itself a stress which may precipitate a psychosis"
This is the part that would be so hard to prove in order to get anywhere with compensation. However:
Tula: I think most of it is due to the suffering they experience AFTER leaving the cult. That suffering is more genuine than any happiness they found while in the cult. (apainful truth is better than a pleasant lie?) I see great emotional stress from many on this board....when trying to fade or because of df, or rejection (shunning) by family and friends.
Tula is dead on with this point. In is bad enough, but the trauma really hits afterward, and that is something the general poplulation will never experience or understand......oompa
JG ... schizophrenia is not triggered. It occurs mostly in males and starts in adolescence. It has no cure but can be controled in most.
The cause is not known and can not be determined before onset.
coffee ... thanks so much for your concern .. appreciated:)
I beg to differ with you Rosalee, I believe I have read some medical studies that do indicate that certain forms of Schizophrenia can be induced by traumatic events. I may also be mistaken, but some drugs can even cause schizophrenia as a side effect.
JG ... if you google schizophrenia you will see what I mean.
Rose
I googled it and here's what I found: There's more info on the website... I just copied the intro.
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http://www.schizophrenia.com/hypo.php
Introduction
Experts now agree that schizophrenia develops as a result of interplay between biological predisposition (for example, inheriting certain genes) and the kind of environment a person is exposed to. These lines of research are converging: brain development disruption is now known to be the result of genetic predisposition and environmental stressors early in development (during pregnancy or early childhood), leading to subtle alterations in the brain that make a person susceptible to developing schizophrenia. Environmental factors later in life (during early childhood and adolescence) can either damage the brain further and thereby increase the risk of schizophrenia, or lessen the expression of genetic or neurodevelopmental defects and decrease the risk of schizophrenia. In fact experts now say that schizophrenia (and all other mental illness) is caused by a combination of biological, psychological and social factors, and this understanding of mental illness is called the bio-psycho-social model.
It goes into greater detail, but it does say that social factors are part of the picture. That would include the only social interaction a jw is allowed.
Coffee
Google doesnt always have the answers, Google is not always the magical tool where you can find anything out. There are also medical textbooks and other things.
JG ... I agree with you. Google just skims the surface.
I have a friend who's son was diagnosed recently with this disease. What I've posted so far is what she has told me the doctors have told her. Until he was 18 there were virtually no symptoms. Within a year he has been institutionalized and considered very dangerous.
Just to add .. he is dangerous because he refuses to take his meds. He prefers his altered state.
People don't 'become' schizophrenic because of their environment .. they are predisposed.
This is misleading, as neurologists have recently found out that trauma and abuse can literally change brain chmistry, activity etc. permanently. Strictly anecdotally, in my work w/ severely emotionally disturbed kids I belive this to be true. MOST of them were diagnosed w/ some form of organic disorder (i.e, psychosis, schizophrenia, etc.) but all had one thing in common, severe abuse and/or neglect.
Schizophrenia can also be induced by drug abuse, i.e, methamphetamines, etc., so........
