Any Tourettes syndrome in your congregation?

by fade_away 24 Replies latest jw experiences

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  fade_away

  A huge number of JWs have mental illnesses. I knew someone with a schizophrenic disorder and he would occasionally forget/refuse to take his pills which made for some very embarassing moments at the meetings and on service. He would come to our house claiming he is Jesus Christ in the flesh and would get upset with anyone that didn't believe him. So we were all like "okay Jesus, just relax and we'll take you back home". He would say things like that to people at the door, which makes an already crazy cult look even crazier. Once a brother made a comment on the watchtower magazine study and made it to sound like an epic speech, and the schizophrenic started applauding all by himself afterwards. It turned a lot of heads.

  Anyway, I was wondering if anyone has ever known someone with a tourettes syndrome that made him/her blurt out obscene words during the meetings. How uncomfortable would the whole congregation be! They can't discriminate, so I guess they have to accept the person even when he forgets to take his medication and starts screaming cuss words during a prayer. Imagine saying "Godamn God is an asshole!" after someone opens the door on service.
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  EmptyInside

  Yes,but it's a young girl. And she doesn't yell out curse words. She has to sit in the back a lot of the time. She's a teenager now,and she doesn't attend meetings too often anymore.

  But,at the most,she would bang on the chair or let out a little squeak,but no words. I really feel bad for her,especially what she deals with at school.
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  cptkirk

  fade_away: you're really cracking me up man...

  "Once a brother made a comment on the watchtower magazine study and made it to sound like an epic speech, and the schizophrenic started applauding all by himself afterwards. It turned a lot of heads."

  lmao...that made my entire day worth living today.

  matter of fact i did goto a congregation with a guy like this. was funny as hell. he was probably in his 30's and had some retardation, wasn't downs...because he didn't have the downs face...but he always had this crazy ass grin on his face, and would blurt out all kinds of crap. not usually the cursing associated with tourette's, just stuff you'd expect a 3 year old to say. his mom always had this look on her face like good god why me, but she cared for him so more power to her. most people tried to just be nice , the look on his mom's face always drew empathy, ie. she was embarassed enough as it was...so it made you want to atleast be nice to her son. he would blurt out during the meetings, but usually it was just unintelligible.
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  Witness My Fury

  I'd have tourettes if I ever went back to a meeting!
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  wasblind

  Would have been hilarious if the guy had of yelled " WHAT THE F**K !!!! "

  right after an elder said to wait on Jehovah from the podium , I guess that

  comes from my warped sense of humor, any hoo, carry on ;)
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  meangirl

  I wish, would've made the meetings much more interesting!
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  mummatron

  No, but there were several schizophrenics over the years. One of them was convinced she'd given birth to the spawn of Satan.
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  blondie

  Actually, I'm disappointed that some find the sadness of these people entertaining. This is not a movie with people pretending, they are people who suffer each day and those who love them. What a struggle they have. It's good that one thing "good" came out of this, "entertaining" some.

  I can remember a sister whose used drugs along with her husband before becoming a jw. Her son was born with the results, a young boy who had little control over his movements and speech. I give credit to the congregation she attended that they were understanding and supportive.
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  mummatron

  Considering I've done SEN (Special Educational Needs) work, I must say that I've never actually encountered a Tourette's sufferer who does blurt out obscenities. Most just have a strong tick/twitch that interupts their talking/writing etc.
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  cptkirk

  good god blondie you sound desperate to be important. we were supportive of this individual. it does not mean some of what he did at times was not funny. we had one instance where his outburst caused the entire congregation to laugh. it is actually the exact opposite of what you're supposing blondie. people were laughing knowing he had a problem, and the irony of an outburst, not laughing AT the poor bastard. because they went out of their way to be supportive, and accepted that he was one of us so to speak. take your preaching elsewhere.