How You Can Encourage Mental Illness

metatron

First, you need to identify some outward signs of mental illness and then find ways to encourage their manifestation. Such as:

Paranoia: Remember, you live in a world controlled by the Devil and
his demons. They will try anything to break you, using
relatives, friends or congregation members to 'get to you'.
Be careful with movies, books, and worldly entertainment
or demon influence could enter your life. Also, be prepared
for persecution (possibly violent)- it's a certainty.

Depression: Everyone that isn't a Witness will be slaughtered
at Armageddon - your babysitter, your workmates,
and the kindly old lady who gave your kid pocket change
for ice cream. All dead, dead, dead. Your 'worldly'
husband? Dead too! Walk thru your local mall and think
about how God will kill every person there.
Also, go to 5 repetitive meetings a week and spend
hours door to door talking to no one.

Psychosis: a stretch, but you can do it! Remember, no matter what
you see, the organization is a spiritual paradise.
The elders are appointed by God. The organization
never has to apologize because they're never really wrong.
There always was a Governing Body. If you miss a meeting
something bad might happen to you.

Obsessive/Compulsive Behavior: Do what the elders say. Obey the
Watchtower. Count your time and placements and report
them on time. Attend all the meetings. Avoid 'worldly
associations'. Stop thinking about sex. Stop thinking about
sex. Stop thinking about sex. STOP IT! STOP IT! STOP IT
NOW! IT'S WRONG! STOP THINKING ABOUT SEX!.......

Guilt: You need to do more. You're not appreciative of what Jehovah's
done for you. Can't you be more zealous? Don't you believe
this is Jehovah's Organization? Why can't you pioneer?
Don't you know faith without works is dead? Look at these
experiences of our brothers in foreign lands crossing rivers/
risking death/while poor/ sick/ crippled. Do you have a spirit
of complaint? Are you serving "the God of Good Luck"?
Are you guilty of secret sins?

I'm not a psychiatrist
but I don't need "a weatherman to tell me which way the wind blows".
'Common sense' shouldn't be an oxymoron.

If the above represent the internal life of most Witnesses,
does anyone really think they can keep their sanity?

metatron

teenyuck

If the above represent the internal life of most Witnesses,
does anyone really think they can keep their sanity?

larc is probably best suited to answer this. But I will throw in my 2 cents.

My opinion is you definitely can encourage mental illness.

Think about how many times you think of someone you know/knew and think of their spouse/companion etc and your thought is "He/she brings out the worst in So&So." You remember this person as being totally different and then they met that one person who brings out the worst in them. You forget how they were and think they are stupid/nuts/deceived, etc.

I think the dubs bring out all the hidden fears & weaknesses people have. Next thing you know, you don't remember what it is like to be on the outside. You cannot imagine it.

You brought up some very excellent points. I agree.

Tinkerbell4125

Hmmmmm.....well, let me put it this way.......

Of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most!

Tink =;o)

Incense_and_Peppermints

(what puffs said)

good grief!

larc

Puffsrule, thank you for bringing up my name and my opinion. I think most of what was posted is correct. I think the religion percipitates deep neuratic syptoms and major emotional problems. There is no way to get the stats on this, but I think that a large number of JWs are very troubled people. They can never do enough, they are driven by ever higher standards, and in the process they are prone to depression, a lack of self worth, and feelings of low self esteem. The Kingdom Hall is not a happy place, as the JWs claim.

DanTheMan

I remember going to the DC in the summer of 2001. At this time I was still in, still thinking that I was the problem not the religion, but starting to feel a little cynical towards the whole thing. As I've mentioned in other posts, the "Korah" drama hit me like a bucket of cold water. Also, I remember studying people's faces and thinking, "these people aren't happy". That convention was the beginning of the end for me in a lot of ways. I slowly began to realize that this horseshit religion was making me and a lot of other people CUCKOO!!!!

onacruse

The Addictive Organization (Anne Wilson Schaef and Diane Fassel; Harper & Row 1988) has some interesting comments along this line of thought that fit JWs to a tee:

"An addiction is any substance or process that has taken over our lives and over which we are powerless...in such a way that we feel we must be dishonest with ourselves or others about it...Addictions fall into two major categories: substance addictions and process addictions... The common process addictions are work, sex, money, gambling, religion, relationships, and certain types of thinking...the purpose or function of an addiction is to put a buffer between ourselves and our awareness or feelings...An addictive system is first of all a closed system...because it presents very few options to the individual in terms of roles and behaviors...The major defense mechanism[s] of the addictive system is [are] denial... confusion... self-centeredness... dishonesty... perfectionism... ethical deterioration...whenever we confuse religion with spirituality, we are opting for the structure, control, and rules of an addictive system...The organization becomes an addictive substance when its actions are excused because it has a lofty mission...grandiosity is one of the characteristics of the addicitve system...Grandiosity keeps the mission lofty and frequently unattainable...When organizations function as the addictive substance, it is in their interest to keep promoting the vision of the mission, because as long as the employees are hooked by it, they are unlikely to turn their awareness to the present discrepancies. They choose to stay numb in order to stay in the organization...Addictive organizations become more isolated the more they sink into their disease...In the addictive organization, everyone is trying to find out what is really going on with the firm and believes that it is possible to get such information. Of course, these efforts are futile, because it is frequently an illusion that anything is really going on in the first place."

The parallels are so striking that I suspect most professionals would consider most JWs to be addicts, with all the mental illness and behavioral pathology that goes along with it. As an aside, this also suggests why so many JWs also have a problem with alcohol.

A Recovering Addict,

Craig

Dia

Go to google.com and look up Dr. Jerry Bergman. He is an exjw and a mental health professional who has written extensively on the mental health problems of JWs and how their 'religion' creates and/or enhances their problems.

You'll learn a lot. Your intuitions are exactly right.

Edited by - Dia on 25 July 2002 22:47:51

outoftheorg

When I first prowled this site I was amazed at the number of people that refered to their depression.

I thought I was the only one. I knew the other jw's were troubled but I just thought they were crazy.

In looking back on it now, I can see where almost everyone was showing some sign of depression or some other emotional problem. Paranoia was only one problem the wbts encouraged. My older sister could not form a sentence without creating a sense of doom.

The information posted here sure is correct. Good job.

Not what I posted! What you guys posted.

Well mine was ok too. I----oh forget it.

13th_apostate

very astute observations metatron. I am still amazed at how obvious this is to me now that I no longer associate with witnesses. when I was in, none of this was apparent to me at all. there used to be a section on freeminds.org that had some interesting articles about jehovah's witnesses and mental health. I can not remember the author, but it brought up some stats about the abnormally high amount of mentally ill people and those who are predisposed to mental illness being attracted to JW belief system.

will

How You Can Encourage Mental Illness

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