Our regular pioneers would often write "depressed" or "sick" on their time slips to explain why they had not made the monthy quota. These same pioneers would recuperate to go to an out of state party or some other sort of recreation.
Are JW more depresed?
by heianderen 20 Replies latest watchtower medical
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Nosferatu
I used to be part of those statistics. I've come a long way in the past 7 years.
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Victorian sky
Hec yes, I knew several Bethal wives who popped Prozac like candy. It's tough for women in the borg, especially. All you can hope to do is get married, pioneer and have babies - sad really. I was depressed on and off for years but I didn't know it. I just thought I was getting spiritually weak and I needed to do more, more and more. The good ol' dub treadmill of meetings, study and service. I'm happier now than I've ever been, gee I wonder why? - Victorian Sky
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Francois
Not only more depressed, but more likely to engage in child sex abuse, spousal abuse, alcohol abuse, drug abuse, and to suffer a wide range of mental illnesses and their outworkings both misdemeanor and felony.
You simply cannot insist that sick people just deny that they are sick and have their lives just perk along magically like a cup of fucking coffee in a Mr. Coffee coffee maker. Sooner or later, the inner corruption is going to become more and more rotten, the inner pressure will continue to grow, the pain will continue to build and build until it explodes all over the place. Think of Longo, think of the day trader in Atlanta who shot up his witness family and his co-workers in the Atlanta finanacial center. Think of all the sexually abused children that we know of.
If we could pull the cover off of the entire organization of JWs, it would be like turning over a dead animal only to expose maggots in massive numbers. One day our society must be freed of this threat to its health and the sooner the better.
Frank Tyrrell
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mizpah
About 20 years ago, Jerry Bergman did a study in which he concluded a higher than usual rate of suicide among Jehovah's Witnesses. Certainly, if this study was valid, it would indicate a higher rate of depression. I do know that those serving at Bethel had the services of a psychologist (from California) to help some work through their problems. It was especially difficult for the "sisters" who worked there. I know of at least two of them who came near to having complete nervous breakdowns. Fortunately, both left before this happened.
For years, the Watchtower discouraged any JW from seeking professional mental help from anyone outside the organization. But it has eased its position in recent years. Perhaps, that alone reflects the numerous problems that exist within the organization. Sadly, the answers that elders gave about how one should pray more, attend more meetings and go out in field service only exacerbated the problems. The one thing that a person under emotional and mental stress did not need was a "guilt trip" about what they were lacking.
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Nosferatu
The one thing that a person under emotional and mental stress did not need was a "guilt trip" about what they were lacking.
Unfortunately, the JWs call this "encouragement". "You really need to make the meetings, it keeps you spiritually strong and in good standing with Jehovah should Armageddon come".
This is very counter productive. It puts more stress on the person rather than give them comfort.
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Charms
I believe they are. My mother, bless her heart, is the most unhappy person I know. But she was that way before she ever joined the Borg. She was never exactly a social butterfly, but she has isolated herself from almost everyone she knew before. She has cut her support system of non-JW friends almost completely. She cries often, feeling unloved and lonely. My old KH was (and still is) very cliquish and if you are not an elder/elder's family, one of the larger witness families, or in one of the groups of women that gossip about everybody, you are pretty much an outsider, except for a few caring souls. This wouldn't concern me, but she is elderly and her health is not that great. Not many come to see about her (maybe three or four). I do what I can, but I live a good distance away. It is truly sad to see what happens to elderly witnesses after they've outlived their usefulness. I had to take her to the hospital because the diabetic ulcers in her feet began to open up again. It was due to regular pioneering, even though she was told to stay off her feet. I would think that Jehovah knows she wouldn't be able to do much FS, and therefore, would understand. Sorry for going on and on, I am just venting.
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Charms
Good point. I led a
normaldouble life as a teenager and wouldsuffersit through countless meetings and assemblies feeling bad because almost everything they said applied to me. I was depressed because I hated FS, and generally avoided it. I felt depressed because I just knew the "Big A" was coming any minute now and I would be destroyed along with my worldly friends that I wasn't supposed to have. -
Phantom Stranger
The previous post stating that JW's attract a higher incidence of people inclined towards mental health issues sounds right on the mark to me (consistent with my experience).
Of course, some believe that the attraction to members is a filling of an emptiness or an addressing of a need, and others believe that it's a mind-control plot. (Let's not go there...)
My paternal grandmother and my mother were both diagnosed as depressive, and used their faith as a means to not deal with their illness (drugs were OK, therapy was not). I firmly believe that their attraction to the faith was to use it as a crutch.
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Phantom Stranger
By the way, hein, in your photo you look just like the congressman from California that just pulled out of the governor's race after spending 1.7million US on the recall campaign. Issa, his name was. (He's Lebanese - name means "Jesus".)