Mental Disorders among JW's

by Blackfalcon98 87 Replies latest jw experiences

  • Oubliette
    Oubliette

    Enzo: And by the way if my post are incomprehensible for you, than it is not a great efford, to ask for more clarification

    You have a long history of not answering direct questions. This goes back to the thread you started about Steven Hassan.

    Enzo: you are from the same category of Cedars.. like to criticize, but don't like to be criticised

    Uh, what are you doing right now? And what's with the comparison to Cedars? He hasn't posted here in like a year and you only just joined less than 2 months ago. Comments like that are why some people here think you're a troll.

    Enzo: when manipulated information is presented...and that's the case of your opinions presented here about Religion being the dominant factor why JW's has PD's..

    So which is it? "Manipulated information" or my opinion? And if you believe the information I posted from WHO, the NIMH, the researchers Jacobi Wittchen and Alonso Angermeyer are alll "manipulated," what is your evidence? That's a pretty grand conspiracy theory you're painting there!

    Finally, you are completey off your rocker when you make statements misconstruing my words. I never said that religion was the "dominant factor" concerning JWs and mental illness. I still can't figure out if your an annoying troll or just have trouble understanding English.

    Also, I never used the term PD or personality disorder. You introduced it into our discussion. I cited the NIMH's date which used the term "any mental illness." They are different. If you don't or can't understand that then further dialog with you is pointless.

  • Watchtower-Free
    Watchtower-Free
  • kokyong.soon3
    kokyong.soon3

    i for one suffer from bipolar disorder

  • Blackfalcon98
    Blackfalcon98

    Yea, Im a born in. I guess I've seen it all. Right now my mother suffers from depression. Its heart-wrenching how much she is in this illusion. At this point I dare not tell her how I feel now, the borg. is all she has smh!

  • talesin
    talesin

    Enzo - The term I see most frequently used in English is MI for Mental Illness (at least, among the general public). Language can sometimes be problematic, as we are an international community. :))

    Now, do you know about cognitive dissonance? A short primer can be found here: http://www.simplypsychology.org/cognitive-dissonance.html

    Here's the intro, and how Festinger first got thinking about CD -- surprise, a CULT!

    Cognitive dissonance refers to a situation involving conflicting attitudes, beliefs or behaviors.

    This produces a feeling of discomfort leading to an alteration in one of the attitudes, beliefs or behaviors to reduce the discomfort and restore balance etc.

    For example, when people smoke (behavior) and they know that smoking causes cancer (cognition).

    Festinger's (1957) cognitive dissonance theory suggests that we have an inner drive to hold all our attitudes and beliefs in harmony and avoid disharmony (or dissonance).

    ...

    Cognitive dissonance was first investigated by Leon Festinger, arising out of a participant observation study of a cult which believed that the earth was going to be destroyed by a flood, and what happened to its members — particularly the really committed ones who had given up their homes and jobs to work for the cult — when the flood did not happen.

    While fringe members were more inclined to recognize that they had made fools of themselves and to "put it down to experience", committed members were more likely to re-interpret the evidence to show that they were right all along (the earth was not destroyed because of the faithfulness of the cult members).

    Okay, if a cult member is experiencing cognitive dissonance, they are open to depression in a big way. Their logic is constantly at odds with their feelings. They see reality, but their religion, their very way of life, denies it. This is mental illness. This leads to depression.

    On a personal anecdotal note, I can remember my mother telling me, through the 90s and early 00s, about how this sister and that one, is on Prozac or some other SSRI. She herself has been taking anti-depressants for years.

    The happiest people on earth? I think not.

    tal

  • talesin
    talesin

    kokyong (seriously?) ............. please, please take your meds! I have lost 3 friends to this serious and debilitating illness. Much love to you!

    tal

  • Enzo
    Enzo

    talesin: Thank you for your clarification about the word you use in English: Mental ilness..I will remember it. And I agree with your research about cognitife dissonance..It can lead indeed to depression.. But there is a difference between depressio, and a bipolair disorder, or Schizofrenia.. there are a lot of others factors involved when somebody has these mental ilnesses.. not enough serotonine and if we speak about BD in most cases it can be ereditary.... That is my opinion based on my experience on the field with mental ilnesses.. at other hand patients with a strong belief in God are reacting better on therapy than others.. That I have seen with my own Eyes.. Thank you for your research.. more scientific studies must be done before we can get some conclusions, because until now it is only presented as a possibility...or only suggested.. And using statistics like someone is not very convincing at this moment...

  • Oubliette
    Oubliette

    Enzo, are you going to answer my direct question? What "manipulated information" do you believe I presented?

    What is your justification for believing any of the data I posted has been manipulated? Please provide proof for this assertion.

  • DesirousOfChange
    DesirousOfChange

    Be nice if a couple of posters here knew of "spell check"

    Doc

  • talesin
    talesin

    DOC - depends on the browser, and hey, must we be grammar nazis? really? :)

    Enzo - I see what your point. Here in North America, we "count" curable illness. Clinical depression is a very real MI, and yes, it can be cured and treated. I don't understand why you would not consider it a mental illness? Perhaps this is a cultural thing.

    Here in North America, we do go a bit far with the depression 'thing', imho. I have a friend whose doctor prescribed anti-depressants 3 months after his wife died. That is so wrong! We are supposed to be depressed when someone dies. On the other hand, some people struggle with depression for the very reason you list - their body does not produce seratonin (which is also causally linked to a lack of melatonin - oh, it gets complicated!). That being said, depression can result in the most drastic - suicide - but can cause many somatic illnesses. It is also noted in studies that depression *may* contribute to the growth of cancer, to auto-immune diseases, heart disease, and well, that's what I can think of at this moment.

    The depression that can be caused by cognitive dissonance (CD) is widespread among the JW community. If you understand CD, then think of it this way.

    You can trust No One in the world unless the are JW - not even your unbelieving parent! You never have time for yourself (ie, taking a weekend to go fishing is wrong - time is short, we must preach!) You are NEVER good enough. You are the Happiest Person on Earth! Jehovah protects his people.

    Meanwhile, you are going to school and work, and observing that OTHER ,,, *worldly* .... people seem to be happy. They abhor Satan worship (sorry to any Satanists on board, don't take it personally), or so they say.

    AND they do Christian acts! Your logical mind keeps saying "But mr. Smith next door is a good person!" but the religion has made you believe they are EVIL.

    There is a constant battle in your head, between your belief system, and the reality that you see every day. It's enough to drive a person crazy, literally.

    I do not expect or want/need you to agree, just for the sake of discussion, because hey, that's a great way to learn. :)

    xx

    tal

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