Personality Disorders Attracted to JWism

by skeeter1 14 Replies latest jw friends

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  Jeffro

  skeeter1:

  I was reading about Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders and this "profile" seemed like the "normal" JWs I know

  Many people may occasionally exhibit mild forms of any or all of the symptoms listed, but it doesn't necessarily mean they are clinically obsessive-compulsive.

  That said, the highly regimented lifestyle of JWs does add some 'stability' for people with various mental illnesses, and may encourage obsessive behaviour in people already predisposed to it. With the exception of the inherent religious delusions (which are broadly considered within the realms of 'normal'), JWs do not necessarily have any particular mental illness.

  However, those who join (not 'born-in') usually do so at some low point in their life, which could relate to mental illness, but most of the time more likely relates to other factors such as substance abuse, a death in the family, or some other personal tragedy.
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  poopieskoopie

  It is true that certain personalities fit better than others. I was told when I first began studying and asking questions that "Not everyone is cut out to be a witness". I was raised in another religion that, to me, was rigid so I possessed the "peculiarities" that fit from the get go. It was only a few years and a million questions later that I found out TTATT. I also found out that the original bible students were not allowed to laugh during any of their gatherings. I could easily understand no sex or roughhousing....but no laughter!!!.WTH
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  Bella15

  @ ADAMAH .... you are right, we need to always be on the lookout to make sure we are getting rid of the personalities traits we adquired for being in that CULT ...
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  rmt1

  I enjoy the study of human spaceflight. One of the credos easily tossed around about the Apollo program was that 'better is enemy of good enough'. The designs and tests had to pass a certain very high specification, had to get the very hard job done, but no more. They had to do a great thing by a close deadline, and money was made available ('Waste anything but time'). As far as I can tell, the Apollo program is antithetical to the JW program, which siphons as much money as is made available for as long as possible, constantly insisting on an enhanced, additional shaving of perfection that does not exist in the real world of flesh and blood, with never a hard deadline stated boldly, and quite a few slipping dates that were intoned only suggestively, and always with plausible deniability. Anyway, 'better is enemy of good enough' is a fine rule to keep in mind.
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  adamah

  Bella said-

  @ ADAMAH .... you are right, we need to always be on the lookout to make sure we are getting rid of the personalities traits we adquired for being in that CULT ...

  Yup, and even more scrutiny must be paid to those traits we've never questioned which may have let us be persuaded to join, in the first place! Those are often harder to root out, since they're so deeply engrained, and at the core of our beings such that they're often harder to see.

  Marvin said-

  You might find the 1983 article by MacDonald and Luckett helpful. It’s pretty extensive in its evaluation. I highlight a few key elements in an article on my blog.

  Interesting article, Marv, thanks for sharing.

  I noted the mention of psychoses, and suspect those individuals who experience auditory/visual hallucinations (AKA psychoses) may be especially prone to religiosity since the Bible is a book filled with the stories of those who heard voices, too (eg Abraham, Jesus, etc). So for those experiencing such symptoms, the Bible seems like a radio station sending a message that resonates with them in stronger fashion than it does for others. You throw in the component of not just inviting, but DEMANDING that the reader gets involved in the story-line, and you have a situation which is absolutely TOXIC for those prone to suffering psychoses (bipolar, schizophrenics). For them, reading Revelations is a terror-inducing experience that persists.

  We rate movies based on assuming that a child of a certain age has reached a certain level of emotional maturity in order to deal with seeing certain psychological stressors (eg gore/violence), but the thing that's often forgotten is that emotional maturity differs, so the assumption is not necessarily valid for all individuals (hence the recent thread on Pastor Rick Warren's son commiting suicide, with a known diagnosis of bipolar disorder).

  Adam