schnell, you should know better by now:
Do we say the same thing for other institutions?
Yes
Which ones?
Insane asylums and USA Congress
Why?
Insane asylums because they are for, well, the insane.
Congress, well, need I finish this sentence?
On a more serious note, one of the things that made me start opening my eyes and leave was precisely that I started noticing in the congregation I was in, a lot of people with a number of different mental health conditions. That was my biggest eye opener.
My awareness started with me. As an older teenager, becoming a young adult, I decided to finally give that Jehovah nonsense a serious try, not because it was imposed on me, but to give it a fair chance. A few years later I found myself extremely depressed, sad and feeling horrible about myself. I tried looking for some kind of role model (didn't know at the time that that's what i was doing), but I was looking to see a good example of anyone who I could follow. First, since at that time I was already labeled as the brother "with that problem", every single male in the congregation thought I was coming on to them simply by me attempting at striking a conversation. Then the elders kept telling me that if I was depressed it was because there was something I had to confess to them to feel better, and that service is the best antidepressant. And don't get me started with the nasty, ill-intended, backstabbing gossip!
I finally had it with their --it, so I went to a psychologist. It felt so great! However, I started asking myself who else in the congregation may be in similar position than I was, and that's when i started seeing people, I mean, really seeing people in the congregation. I alone, without having any professional mental health experience, saw people with depression, anxiety, a lot of compulsive behavior (there was a sister who used to cut herself, and a lot, I mean a lot of people with all kinds of eating disorders and issues around food), there was this young guy who claimed that Jehovah was talking to him directly, there was this other guy who wanted his mother dead so she can be resurrected in paradise, there was a sister claiming that her children's father was Satan, I mean, I saw a lot of people suffering, expecting some kind of healing or miracle from their Jehovah, there, going to meetings and doing was they were told and expecting something in return.
It was very saddening and scary, both experiencing depression and seeing so many people suffering too. That was when I decided to leave that organization. A lot of people around me thought that my leaving had to do with the being gay thing, but that was not the reason. My main reasons had to do with seeing how irresponsibly the WT and their people handle people with issues that affect their mental health, at the same time that I needed to protect my own mental health.
So I think that to me it's not new that there are people who notice the rather large number of people with mental health issues, some of them severe, in their congregations. Of course, they are not going to say that that's the case, so they better come up with some BS excuse to explain why congregations have so mane people with issues. Solving their issues is what attract them to the JWs in the first place. To me that's not new. What is new is that there's more awareness of it and they are trying to excuse the WT's irresponsible behavior.