how many in your cong had nervous breakdowns? (page 3)

crackedbutnotbroken

I have a sister still in who is the saddest person I know.

straightshooter

I knew of only one sister who was medically diagnosed as having a mental breakdown. She always experienced depression in her life.

Maybe I've never been hospitalized and I was able to work, but nearly 3 yrs ago I just about went over the edge. I was so depressed because of other JW's treating me like a leper that I isolated myself and stayed under my rock till just recently. My aunt is schizophrenic (and still in the Borg), but I attribute that at least partially to an abusive ex-husband. I don't know of any others that ended up at the funny farm but I know plenty were on depression meds.

V665

chicken little

Too many to count, in the four congregations I have been in the numbers on meds was very high. At least 5 breakdowns with hospital stays. One sister had her meltdown while in bethel, running screaming in the corridors hitting her husband. They were asked to leave after 20 years there, she got no help. Last time I saw her she was wearing smeared lipstick across her face and started yelling at me in the loos at the assembly because I asked how she was, her husband acted oblivious of everything and kept his position doing his elder stuff. Many sad cases.

In

heard a sister say once that jw's are simply "more sensitive" to bad news.

streets76

I don't know about a bonafide nervous breakdown, but I went through some serious depression during my teen years (1970's era). Undiagnosed and untreated, of course. Looking back, I think I unknowingly used music as a self-treatment.

Scarred for life

This is a great thread.

I feel very strongly that the JW cult had severe effects on the mental health of my family and extended family. My father had at least a minor "breakdown" and asked for a demotion at his work. This was back around 1973. I remember another man in our congregation that was hospitalized about the same time for a "nervous breakdown."

Almost everyone in my extended family that is still a JW are on anti-depressants or anti-anxiety medications. They consider this to be completely normal.

Many of my cousins and an aunt and my mother who died 2 years ago and are no longer JWs are or were on medications to help them cope with depression and anxiety. This cult has life-long effects on your mental health if not dealt with properly.

exwhyzee

Sadness and anxiety are all human emotions....we'd be pretty blah without them. Some of the most beautiful art and music and greatest accomplishments are born from persons who experience these emotions and direct that energy toward something positive. Instead of being taught how to cope or view these as part of the human experience, we are taught that we should want to live in a world where everthing is perfect but can't imagine how it would be if there were no 'crying in your beer songs" because everyone was happy all the time.

Its the steady diet of negativity over world conditions, the constant agonizing over Biblical details that can't be proven, trying to stay one step ahead of the organization so your peers will think well of you and you will be a good example to the entire world; coupled with the denial of ones inner voice over these things that eventually pushes these poor well meaning souls over the edge and keeps them there. The stable ones are those who have become experts at vanquishing any trace of their authentic selves so that they no longer question anything and begin forcing others to do the same.

VampireDCLXV

Its the steady diet of negativity over world conditions, the constant agonizing over Biblical details that can't be proven, trying to stay one step ahead of the organization so your peers will think well of you and you will be a good example to the entire world; coupled with the denial of ones inner voice over these things that eventually pushes these poor well meaning souls over the edge and keeps them there. The stable ones are those who have become experts at vanquishing any trace of their authentic selves so that they no longer question anything and begin forcing others to do the same.

That's one of the best, most clear-cut explanations I've heard yet. exwhyzee!

Scarred for life

Yes, exwhyzee, that's perfect. No one has ever said it better!

how many in your cong had nervous breakdowns?

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