Suicide - How many do you know within the JWs

by Lady Lee 234 Replies latest watchtower scandals

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  Scully

  finally awake writes:

  when I was suffering badly with post partum depression, I got no help from the elders.

  At least they recommended medication for depression... which would mean a visit to the doctor.

  When I had PPD, I was investigated for Demonized™ articles in my home (without my knowledge or consent, and was pissed off beyond belief when I found out about it), was advised against seeing a psychiatrist (he'll brainwash you right out of The Truth™!), and when I went anyway I was advised against discussing anything about being a JW (he'll think we're all nuts!!). Because I was unable to go Door-to-Door™ due to panic attacks and had asked the Congregation Secretary™ in confidence for help - perhaps sitting in on Bible Studies™ with the Pioneer™ Sisters™, rumours started circulating that Sister Scully doesn't want to go in Service™ anymore, and then a Pioneer™ Sister™ came up to me after a Meeting™ and rudely told me: "Get off your ass and get your own damn Bible Studies™".

  Then, I made an extraordinary effort to attend the Memorial™. One of the Elders™ greeted me with "Look at what the cat dragged in". Then during the Memorial™, I had to take the baby to the back of the room because she was fussing, and the Attendants™ refused to pass the Emblems™ to me. There were DFd people in the audience having the Emblems™ passed to them, but not me. I was suicidal from that incident - I just wanted to save Jehovah the trouble of destroying me at Armageddon™. I was in the hospital, and they all knew it, but not one of them gave a $h!t about me. I believed I would have been better off dead, that my family and everyone I knew would have been better off if I was dead.

  That happened about 18 years ago... but whenever I write about it here, those feelings come flooding back as if it were yesterday. I still can't write about it without shedding tears.
• 

  mouthy

  I know of three..one killed himself in his car( shot himself) his wife was still a JW,but they would NOT allow the funeral from the KH,
  Even for his wife.... had to be done in a funeral parlour by a minister ..He obliged.
• 

  mouthy

  SCULLYA BIG ONE)So glad your free & have helped THIS old gal.... SO MUCH!!!!!
• 

  shamus100

  Scully,

  They are not human. I've seen many equally disgusting things with my own eyes.
• 

  cedars

  I've been a baptized Witness for over 20 years. In that time, I've heard of a Witness (a friend of a friend) committing suicide. I've also had one relative hospitalized after he OD'd on painkillers, and I've personally wrestled another JW relative to the ground whilst she was threatening to OD on painkillers. I've also recently learned of an attempted suicide in my local congregation, but it's very hush hush because it's the wife of one of our elders.

  What a truly "happy" people we are.

  Cedars

  [edit post: I forgot I once successfully stopped a young JW who was on his way to hurl himself off a bridge. I wish that was an exaggeration.]
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  wha happened?

  I know of one for sure. I've written about her before, but she was stalked by the elders and anyone they directed to do so.

  She had a daughter who was baptized young, around the time of the "stay alive in '75" campaign. As a teen she was df'd but hadn't really been to meetings in some time. Well later the adult daughter would visit Mom from time to time. Apparently the congregation she attended before didn't care, but when she started attending the Nazi congregation I attended, well these elders didn't like it, and the fact that her duaghter would stay overnight. Go figure, the horid crime of visiting and caring for your mother.

  Well the brothers would drop by unannounced, or just do drive by's to see what cars were in her driveway. Well push comes to shove and she is df'd. After some time, suffering depression because her social life is in shambles, she climbed into her car, closed the garage door, and went to sleep.

  Her daughter sent nasty letters to her so called friends. Blasting them for their so called Christian personalities.

  There were a few others that involved late stage cancer, and the offical word on those was that they od'd on pain killers
• 

  St George of England

  Two - both were Elders sons, married with family and in their mid 30's. One was D/Fed but I do not know the circumstances of that, the other was in good standing.

  George
• 

  Ding

  I knew a teenage JW who came close to suicide.

  She was DFd and her parents kicked her out; they would only speak to her again if she came back into the organization, which she wasn't willing to do.

  She was very despondent and taking about suicide.

  Fortunately, some "apostates" took her in and convinced her that she was a worthwhile person and helped her turn her life around.
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  slimboyfat

  Two sisters in our congregation killed themselves in the last ten years. Both hanged themselves. One was discovered by her husband, who was an elder. The other was discovered by her teenage daughter. She was a single parent. Both funerals were conduced by elders, and one included a brief talk at the kingdom hall. During the funeral for the elder's wife the elder conducting the funeral stated that the sister was a victim of the manslayer Satan, according a recent Watchtower that talked about suicide in these terms. He hinted that it is reasonable to hope for a resurrection in these circumstances, a commendably liberal attitude from JWs in the situation. But I could not help thinking it was slightly ironic in that the elder's wife herself was extremely hardline before she got depressed and hanged herself. She often criticised younger ones for holding hands before getting married, Bible Studies who took too long to get baptised ("yeah it's good he got baptised, but if Armageddon had come five years ago he would be dead now!" sticks in the mind) and people who were not regular at the meetings. I can't help feeling that if she had attended such a funeral as an observer rather than the deceased she might have had a few choice words to say about the situation.
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  3rdgen

  (((((((((Scully)))))))))) What you experienced is outragious and inexcusable!