A life of mental illness ends in violence.

by koolaid-man 28 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  lovelylil

  Anne raised a good point about the husband enabling the wife.

  I found in the kh's I was in that people did not want to talk about the mentally ill members of their family. They just learned to deal with it and didn't want to appear spiritually weak. That is why the WT culture is so dangerous. They teach that the ill person is not praying enough, not waiting on jehovah enough, not studying enough, etc. When really their mental illness has NOTHING to do with any of that. They need real help, not the kind the elders give by quoting WT articles. But real mental help, medication and stress reduction.

  I think the rate of mental illness in the JW's is much higher than other religions because the culture they are taught shuns getting help from outsiders.
• 

  Violia

  I read the entire article and there has to be a lot more to this but I just came away with what a whiny guy Jim was. He had his 42 yr old son, a teacher in the house with his MI wife. They all agreed how sick she was, duh, why did ken not leave before it all escalated? Jim is hiding in the bathroom during all this? I know I'm cynical, but I wonder if there is life insurance?
• 

  thetrueone

  Thetrueone I am just reporting..... you decide. If you have a problem with this post talk to your elders about it maybe they can help.

  Your truly a FU..ing idiot ! , I haven't stepped inside a Kingdom Hall for over 30 years and I'm a practicing atheist since.

  The reason most people don't like you and your approach in defaming the JWS is because you use over the top sensationalism with

  little or no relevance. In other words a childish approach with little expressive usefulness.
• 

  thetrueone

  The one message that may come out of this unfortunate circumstance is that religions like the JWS, discredit and demean practicing psychology.

  The WTS has for long time down played practicing psychology expressively to their members.

  Sadly its only when people get extremely sick, that people in these religious organizations finally do seek help, unfortunately for some its far too late.
• 

  JWdaughter

  I'm sorry, I don't get the part where he was enabling his wife. He is regretful of what happened, but he had a fully grown adult son who was nearly her age living with them and refused to make him move out. Husband threatened divorce and had guns (when he knew his wife was mentally ill). I don't know if he was JW or not, I don't know why her standing in the congregation would be damaged if he were NOT a JW, it seems it would only enhance it. And as she was his fourth wife, I am thinking he isn't really in the habit of enabling them(however, that he stuck that long with one who was kind of nuts does indicate he cared for her). I think this is a sad story and I also think that her being part of the org/JWs contributed, but I think it was just the last straw on the back of her previously existing condition.

  It certainly wasn't the police incompetence. They didn't put loaded guns in the home of a crazy person who had just been threatened with divorce!
• 

  isaacaustin

  I have not been on here in awhile, but not a whole lot has changed. Rick, to call you an idiot would be offensive to all the idiots out there. You are mentally ill and need help. You actually Rick would make a good JW...so my suggestion to you is to go back to the organization and get reinstated...you wife can accompany you to give you your needed support.

  Oh, and if one of my family members began to question the organization you would be THE LAST person I would put them in contact with because you would scare them right back into the organization.
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  Violia

  I read the entire article and realize of course there must be a lot more involved. I just can't get past the husband allowing his 42 yr old old son ( a teacher) to live with him. It was upsetting his wife and also he had guns in the house. I feel like this might have been a set up to push her over the edge. This was his fourth wife. There had to be something wrong with this guy, and still wonder if there is a life insurance policy he will benefit from. If I was the police investigating this I'd be asking how did his 3 other marriage's end?
• 

  Mary

  This wasn't Shelly's first suicidal episode. There had been many, according to family members, and she had been hospitalized twice for psychiatric problems, most recently around Christmas.......Shelly was angry about a few things that night: She wanted Jim to evict his 42-year-old son by his first marriage, who'd been living with them for 10 months. She was furious that Jim had threatened divorce, which would have jeopardized her standing with her Jehovah's Witness church.

  It's hard to say whether the statistics truly show that there is a higher rate of mental illness amongst the Witnesses, but it certainly appears this way. Or perhaps we just hear about it more on an ex-Witness site. However, it does appear that in general, mentally unbalanced people seemt to be very attracted to cults and high control groups, as it gives them a feeling of acceptance that they don't get anywhere else.

  This is a tragic story, no matter how you look at it.

  http://www.jwfacts.com/watchtower/mental-issues.php
• 

  shamus100

  So what happened?