Hey, maybe this is why JW's are worn out and miserable- Chronic Fatigue

by OnTheWayOut 12 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  OnTheWayOut

  I made a comment about Chronic Fatigue syndrome (CFS) on another thread about why all pioneers seem to get sick, but I thought that CFS might deserve a thread of it's own.

  I remember one pioneer who said she had "Chronic Fatigue Syndrome." She read it in the Awake and she decided she had it. It was a syndrome that the doctors cannot prove or disprove, it is a syndrome that explains exhaustion when the other JW's say there is nothing wrong with you.

  Gathering information not from Awake could be a real eye-opener to people like her. She probably really has CFS, but not because it is a feeling of exhaustion that the other JW's cannot say that she has. I imagine many pioneers and quite a few other JW's have CFS. (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronic_fatigue_syndrome)

  Basically, CFS is mental and/or physical exhaustion that is unexplained. It is not at all like depression because it is primarily showing up as physical symptoms that are clearly more than just imagined. Because there is no medical test which is diagnostic of CFS, the disorder is a purely subjective condition which relies largely on patient history, and remains a diagnosis of exclusion. The patient has nothing else, so CFS is all that is left. Don't dismiss this- it is probably real. The mind is a tricky place.

  CFS is persistent fatigue unrelated to exertion and not substantially relieved by rest. Some common symptoms are cognitive difficulties, severe mental and physical exhaustion. Pioneers especially, but all JW's, have to engage their cognitive skills all day if they actually speak to people about their beliefs, but also when they listen to and read WT beliefs at meetings and in the literature. They have to have their cognitive dissonance in high gear. (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_dissonance) They are defending a ridiculous doctrine and dismissing all their personal independent thoughts that conflict with it all the time.

  Also, I am sure that the imminence of the last seconds of the last days is wearing on them, wondering when it will finally arrive. That's got to add mental fatigue.
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  undercover

  Witnesses, pioneers in particular, are the biggest bunch of hypochondriacs I've ever seen.

  I'm not dissin' people who really have CFS, but if there's a new disease on the block, then damn, there'll be three dubs at the hall that will have it.

  Not to knock your scholarly post, OTWO, but I've always been a bit skeptical of JWs and their ongoing maladies. Even when I was still in, I got tired of hearing about their ills.

  But you may have something about the mental aspects of living a cognitive dissonant life...
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  OUTLAW

  JW`s are on "Armageddon Alert" 24/7..

  

  Doing that for decades,would wear you out..

  ...........................
  
  
  
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  OnTheWayOut

  Thanks, UC

  Exactly the point, Outlaw.
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  hamsterbait

  Yes - eve notice how an article in the Asleep! rag on some disorder immediately prompts dozens at the Kingdumb hell to go down with it.

  HB
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  caliber

  paradise burn-out !!!!!!!!!!!! AKA chronic fatigue, lupus, and fibromialgia or Cognitive_dissonance maybe ?
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  daniel-p

  The reason why CFS is such a ubiquitous illness, is that it's a set of symptoms that are so vague and broad that no doctor would be able to say what they stem from in of themselves. I've seen so many women who have "CFS", and every one of them are so caught up in their phantom illness that it runs their life. Incidentally, there's ALWAYS some major thing in their life that is a huge emotional weight, like a crazy divorced husband, an abusive partner, an absent family, or a set of cult beliefs and all the guilt that goes with knowing you're never good enough.
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  caliber
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  bluecanary

  I had all the symptoms of CFS when I went off of my hypothyroid meds. Now that I'm back on, I'm fine. Thyroid is one of those things that doctors can miss, (or not treat properly) that can cause people problems.
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  WTWizard

  So much for the upbuilding work the witlesses are doing. I have been out in field circus, showing up on time. Typically, I would get there on time, and there would be a van parked (often running, wasting gas) until it was time to meet (I was often in about 10 minutes early). From there, I noticed that most of the pio-sneers straggled in during the next 20 minutes, often with cups of coffee in one hand, and grumbling that they didn't want to be there. After the prayer was said, it would often take another 15 minutes for everyone to leave the dump (I wanted it to be sluggish, because I didn't want to get in the territory any sooner than I had to). That is not the kind of thing I would expect if this was truly an enjoyable experience.

  It is almost certainly sleep deprivation at the root of the problem, combined with a liberal dose of stagnation and futility. These witlesses usually have to work from 10 PM to 5 or 6 AM on cleaning jobs, and then waste the whole day out in field circus. Plus they have to go to boasting sessions. It is no wonder they are chronically tired--but it is not usually chronic fatigue syndrome (or Marfan's syndrome, or whatever the Asleep! is setting up as the fad syndrome). If the witlesses would simply work regular hours and get enough sleep, even if it means missing boasting sessions and skipping field circus when they are too tired from not enough sleep or if they have a cold or flu, chances are that their "Marfan syndrome" or "chronic fatigue syndrome" or "fibromyalgia" or "whatever the Asleep! is pushing" syndrome would be cured, without any medication, in a single month. And it would stay cured--unless Brother Hounder successfully gets them to get back out in field circus and to the boasting sessions.

  At which point, whatever the latest Asleep! is pushing syndrome would develop.