Do EXJW's suffer from Stockholm Syndrome?

by MsDucky 5 Replies latest jw friends

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  MsDucky

  I just wonder why so many want to go back or have serious issues about leaving. I know that having family in is very hard and could break the strongest EXJW/JW, but besides for that. . .I think it's Stockholm Syndrome.

  “They weren’t bad people. They let me eat, they let me sleep, they gave me my life”

  — A hostage from Flight 847

  One way of describing this site would be “strange beliefs people have and how they got them.” A curious footnote that doesn’t seem to fit in nicely on any of the other pages is a phenomenon known as the Stockholm Syndrome.

  In the summer of 1973, four hostages were taken in a botched bank robbery at Kreditbanken in Stockholm, Sweden. At the end of their captivity, six days later, they actively resisted rescue. They refused to testify against their captors, raised money for their legal defense, and according to some reports one of the hostages eventually became engaged to one of her jailed captors.

  This struck some folks as weird, and as a way of coping with this uneasiness, as they started seeing more examples they named this class of strange behavior the “Stockholm Syndrome.”

  Notorious in the United States is the case of Patty Hearst, who after being kidnapped and tortured by the Symbionese Liberation Army, took up arms and joined their cause, taking on the nom de guerre of “Tania” and helping the SLA rob banks.

  The Stockholm Syndrome comes into play when a captive cannot escape and is isolated and threatened with death, but is shown token acts of kindness by the captor. It typically takes about three or four days for the psychological shift to take hold.

  A strategy of trying to keep your captor happy in order to stay alive becomes an obsessive identification with the likes and dislikes of the captor which has the result of warping your own psyche in such a way that you come to sympathize with your tormenter!

  The syndrome explains what happens in hostage-taking situations, but can also be used to understand the behavior of battered spouses, members of religious cults, Holocaust victims, household pets, and perhaps even users of Internet Explorer. I think it may also help explain the popularity of government and of the mass institutionalization of young people.

  http://www.sniggle.net/stock.php
• 

  Robdar

  Good topic. I've wondered the same about myself.

  I'll take it one step further: Growing up, life at my house was harsh and the JW doctrines made it even harsher. I've even wondered if I truly love my parents or am suffering from stockholme syndrome; afterall, they let me eat, they let me sleep, and they gave me my life. I suppose it is better to forget the beatings they gave me or how they would tell me I was lower than dog crap, and how I never felt welcome in my own home.
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  MsDucky

  Robdar, it's like you know that you're suffering but you don't want to question the authority figure for fear of death. It's, definitely, a dysfunctional situation.
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  Satanus

  Many christians have this. My uncle, for example. He was a long time alchoholic, although still very productive. What made him turn his life around was when his son had a narrow escape from death in a head on car accident. My uncle told me that god had almost killed his son as warning to stop drinking. He became a faithful, christian worshipper of that god, after that.

  S
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  Robdar

  Robdar, it's like you know that you're suffering but you don't want to question the authority figure for fear of death. It's, definitely, a dysfunctional situation.

  Exactly! Or fear of abandonment which will lead to death or somthing worse.

  My childhood was dysfuntional and I left home 4 days past my 19th birthday. I've run as hard and fast as I can but it still haunts me. I tell myself I love my parents, but on quiet, lonely nights, when I allow myself to really look at the anger/hatred/love I feel towards them and the society, I think I have a full blown case of Stockholm Syndrome and stated the same to a good friend just last week. I have been bothered by this conclusion and I am relieved to know that somebody else has thought of the same thing. Thank you for posting this topic.
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  thetrueone

  Typical devout JWS have been indoctrinated to believe that the WTS. is the true representing force of god on earth,

  so essentially the WTS. captivates people into doing their will and their will of course is to push their literature out to the

  public only to lure other people so they too can be utilized to propagate their literature.

  In the indoctrination process there much guilt and fear impressed onto the individual, such as

  that time is so short that is left in this world and to not go out in service is essentially killing

  people that might be saved. So guilt and fear is a predominate psychological aspect of this religion.

  This is why JWS are so weak and accepting in their own thinking for what ever the WTS tells them or when

  a doctrine gets changed they really do believe they are getting new spiritual light.