Telling a Depressed Person It's Demons! (page 3)

nugget

My nephew is in a special residetial school for teenagers with challenging behaviour. He has made wonderful progress and doesn't attend meetings any more. The organisation has no place for those who do not fit what they consider to be normal and he is much better for now. The problem may arise when he is too old to be in education and his parents may have him back home although they really want him to go to supported housing.

Sadly my sister is an uber JW and active shunner and she clings to this organisation despite her own experience. I cannot understand it myself but she finds fulfilment and cannot see any reason to change. I could give her a few but I am dead to her since I told her that 7 men in Brooklyn were liars.

breakfast of champions

I always found it interesting how these big powerful demons that raped entire African villages, sent pigs over the edge of cliffs, and materialized bodies so they could get some hot earth babes could get so easily scared off by antipsychotic/antidepressant medications.

Interesting.

Black Sheep

The last person you want helping the depressed is a religious nutjob with their own delusions of demons in their head.

One of NZ's most notorious criminals was brought up with religion based demons being blamed for his misdemeanors right from when he was just a little kid. Poor bugger ended his life with nothing but a prison cell wall as a weapon. He was only a young fella and was a millionaire when he died. Demons, devils, Satan, Jehovah, Armageddon, you name it, somebody was there to reinforce it all.

May he rest in peace. His victims don't.

sizemik

@Black Sheep . . . A very sad tale Chris . . . told by his mother constantly that he was "the spawn of satan", according to his sister. A JW upbringing of the worst flavor.

I "studied" with a few of similar ilk in Waikeria. One had burned his parents shop to the ground in the middle of Oto's main street using 20L of petrol . . . nearly cremated himself in the process. Demonised he was. Nice kid. Just ill.

Thankfully I get to work with inmates in our local birdcage nowadays . . . and offer some better quality help.

@nugget . . . Glad to here the boy is in a healthier environment. Sorry to hear your sis is still held so tight by the cults clutches . . . her son could do with a Mum . . . without the demons.

Great thread BTW

Scully

This was one of the pivotal incidents in my decision to leave the JWs.

I'd been severely stricken with postpartum depression, and one day someone popped in to visit - presumably to cheer me up. She'd been in our Book Study™ for some time, and had recently been Baptized™. Her pre-JW history included claims of being bothered by The Demons™, along with drug and alcohol abuse. Anyway, while I was making tea / tending to the baby / using the washroom, she was snooping around my house for evidence of demon-possessed items. At some point during the visit she let it slip that one of the Elders™ had asked her to investigate our home, using her "expertise" in these matters, and knowing that I had gone to some garage sales with his wife earlier that summer. She was quite proud of the fact that she was given such an "assignment", and was pleased to tell me that she couldn't sense that any of my possessions were Demonized™.

When I found out who had put her up to snooping around my house, I asked her if she'd been asked to check the Elder's™ wife's garage sale finds for demon possession. Apparently not, because "she isn't the one who is depressed, is she?"

I can't even begin to describe the feeling of violation, not just of my family's privacy (not that you're allowed a private life as a JW), but of my psychological well-being most of all, particularly considering the visit was conducted under the false pretense of a social visit to lift my spirits. Rather than accept the scientific evidence that my illness was real, they had the temerity to override my medical diagnosis with 2000 year old superstitions of demon possession.

That visit was the beginning of a downward spiral that ended the day after the Memorial™ - where Attendants™ refused to pass the Emblems™ to me (apparently instructed to do so for fear that I might Partake™ unworthily) - with me in hospital on a suicide watch.

I'll never forgive them for what they put me through. It was the worst year of my entire life.

TotallyADD

This just goes to show you how superstitious the JW cult is. They still believe depression is caused by demons. When I was going through therapy for my problems a so called sister came to visit us. When we were not looking see was snooping around our home and found one of my work books on my problems. She comes running to me asking what this was all about. I told her I was going to a therapist for my depression and other problems. She started getting mad at me and telling me I did not need that and it was demonic thinking. I should be reading my bible more and do more in the service. We had a heated argument and she left. I have never talk to this person again. The Cult has them believing all problems can be solved by reading your bible and going out in service. When I told my JW family I was going to a therapist they acted like I was talking to the devil himself. Another reason I hate this Cult. Totally ADD

sizemik

Wow Scully . . . what a crap experience. It's only in hindsight that we see how totally whacky this religion is . . . temerity seems too kind a word. I too had mental health issues which hastened my exit (which was coming anyway), and resulted in hospitalisation. Nothing quite like what you experienced, but I understand your distress and feelings. It's the worst possible combination.

designs

Shortly after I was appointed an Elder a Circuit Overseer who also claimed to be of the Anointed told us to take depressed Witnesses out in Service and engage in Shepherding work while there. You can imagine how badly that turned out, someone sobbing uncontrollably out in the public view as they aired their problems. I made the mistake of having this CO help me with a couple I had been working with who where having very serious problems in their marriage, he listened to them talk for a few minutes and then laughed in their faces and walked out of the room.

These guys were dolts who spread harm where ever they went.

NewChapter

I can't believe how many stories have accumulated here over night. From autism to criminal behavior to postpartum depression. All demons. Isn't that convenient? These problems are difficult to deal with and take mountains of time and understanding and compassion. Or you could just blame demons and you're pretty much off the hook!

Even if a person believes the bible, I challenge them to show me where the scriptures say depressed people are undergoing demon attack. There is no such mention, even in this ancient book of superstitions. For that matter, it even lists some of it's heroes as depressed but no mention of demons. On the contrary, isn't there some scripture that says to speak consolingly to the depressed person---or bringing comfort to the depressed--he is near to those crushed in spirit. HEY if he is near to those crushed in spirit then i could argure the GOD causes depression! Afterall he's the one hanging around, not demons.

Psychiatrists and Neurologists now cross train. They are finding that often the same problem in the brain can manifest itself either physically or mentally. For instance the same neurological break down can manifest itself as bi-polar disorder or parkinson's disease. Both caused by a similiar organic process---guess which one is demons!

We have 2000 years of accumulated knowledge since the NT was written. It's time we stop allowing the superstitious to damage us. The research is there. Every answer ever found has been NOT demons. That's a paraphrase of a song I know. It has NEVER been magic. Not once.

NC

aSphereisnotaCircle

Mental health is a medical problem . . . not a religious one.

Aaaamen brother

Telling a Depressed Person It's Demons!

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