Jehovah’s Witnesses and psychiatric diagnoses?

by Marvin Shilmer 46 Replies latest jw friends

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  notjustyet

  MarkedMarked
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  Twitch

  In some ways this is good. I saw a lot of mentally abnormal people get a lot of love and acceptance in my own former religion and I often wondered what would have become of them without the church. Many of these people were fully functioning but socially reclusive and church gave them hope , purpose and structure. This is one area where I think religion can excel and I would expect to see a higher incidence of mental issues in the same way I would expect to find more sick people in a hospital.

  Agreed. In some ways.
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  ÁrbolesdeArabia

  Since we know that mental illness is not cured but managed, what percentage of these studies would apply to members part of the JehovahWitness-net Community? How can we ascertain the correct percentage of our fellow members suffering from the mental illnesses and problems this and various studies propose of members of groups or Sects?

  I remember the teacher in one psychology class saying "Freud and his followers presented good arguments that the "id" of man is made up of primal built-in urges, if manifested without anything holding them back, would result in constant incest, killing and every type of crime at a higher frequency.

  Was it our mental illness that attracted us to this religion or were we all "born in" and these stats don't apply to us? If Freud is correct, are members of "groups" or "sects and cults (including former members) closer or farther from allowing their "id" to run wild without restraint? I think we were farther from allowing our "id" to run wild, many of us are plagued by guilt and suffering from harms we allowed unscrupulous individuals to inflict us with. Our anger of all the bad things we saw take place and trying our best to stop the Narcisistic individuals is why we are better.
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  steve2

  Hey thanks for your response sizemilk - talk about close to home - illustrating how quickly insurers will seize upon anything to decline a claim. That's so unfortunate too given what Christchurch residents have been through. The (Big) pharma industry and the insurance industry - both milking people for all they can!
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  erbie

  In many ways it really is a 'refuge' for persons with mental health issues, uneducated, socially disfunctional, simple, naive etc.

  The list is endless.

  Neverajw made the point earlier that he would not attempt to awaken the person and I totally agree as it is rather like awakening someone from the Matrix (no joke intended).

  Some people are genuinely happier and perhaps healthier within the confines that the cult has placed around them.

  I have personally made people 'aware' of the duplicity of the WT and they have ended up hating me for it.

  It is good to expose untruth in general but some individuals are very delicate and this should be kept in mind.

  I always think of the Dr. Who episode in which the Cyber-Men become concious of the fact that they were once human with the result that they are unable to live with the pain of that recollection.

  I know it is a simple parallel but I remember watching it with my kids and immediately making that connection.

  I too have suffered since my departure and have, on occaision, felt the urge to return.

  I now realize that this was due to a lack of purpose and attainable goals in the REAL world and I have take steps to remedy this.

  Successfully I hope...
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  steve2

  Some people are genuinely happier and perhaps healthier within the confines that the cult has placed around them.

  I so agree with this. Imagine being raised in the organization, devoting your life to it believing it to be God's channel of "truth" and in your twilight years being "forced" to face up to the TATT and realizing it was all vanity. How cruel! The irony is that there are many JWs who would not go so easy or compassionately on an elderly non-witness "found" in the door to door work who was happily affiliated with another religious organization.
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  sizemik

  You make a good point erbie, nice post. Here's to your future success.

  A lack of purpose is also why some convert, seeking similar things I guess.

  On the awakening thing I'm a bit divided and tend to take it case by case. I was first contacted in the D2D 33 years ago by a little old lone sister who had been a JW all her life. Somebody revealing TATT to her would have been traumatic for sure. But I must weigh that against their engagement in recruiting and the pain and trauma that causes, however innocently. Older ones can be less threatening and have good success in the D2D work. It's still a psychologically damaging cult, I believe. For that reason, I'm usually an exposer of TATT if there's opportunity, unless there's a specific reason known to me why I shouldn't.