I remeber about 20 years ago WTS still go against Psychiatrist and in this Awake ! mentions some Jws did go to psychatrist. Huh !?
jwsons
Awake ! Jan 8, 2004 cover "Understanding Mood Disorder" WTS change ?
by jwsons 42 Replies latest watchtower bible
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Gopher
Some JW's go to the psychiatrist? Why, that sounds like "independent thinking (tm) " to me!!
Don't they know that JW's are "the happiest people in the world"? Holy spirit fills their congregations as we all know, and so --- "joy", that second fruitage of the spirit, must dominate the life of every true JW believer, right?
No -- if someone has bad moods, it's obviously a "spiritual weakness". They should be counselled by the elders to do MORE -- as in more prayer, more meditation/study, more field service, etc. If they aren't joyful as a JW, they must be deficient in some way.
Furthermore, a worldly psychiatrist would NEVER encourage them to do "more" for Jehovah. They might actually prescribe medication or give helpful therapy. That could turn the JW into thinking that the world outside the Watchtower actually has some helpful people and good medicine.
We wouldn't want that now, would we?
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Englishman
I was always told that someone visiting a psychiatrist needs their head examined.
Englishman.
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Gopher
Psychiatrists... having taken full advantage of the higher education sponsored by Satan's ungodly system (i.e., they're college-educated), can charge enormously high rates per hour due to their "expertise". Such high rates are obviously a ploy of Satan to tempt Jehovah's people to use their assets unwisely in these "last days".
It would be far better if Jehovah's people would remember to conserve their money, rather than spending it on well-educated people who can actually help you. Because if you conserve your money, you'll be better able to dedicate your resources to kingdom interests (you'll be able to contribute more to the local congregation and to the WT organization).
After all in the fast-approaching new world, there WILL be no more mood disorders. And everyone who doesn't get in the "ark of salvation" will perish along with their mood disorders. There, you have Jehovah's answer to mood disorders.
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Pistoff
Come on now, don't you know the drill by now? The Awake is the magazine for public consumption, written to make the organization seem reasonable. What it says means nothing; it will never be quoted in support of anything by the Watchtower.
The real viewpoint comes out in the WT, the magazine for the rank and file. It has no touchy feely articles about depression, just hints that it will go away with more meetings, study and service.
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Euphemism
How long have you people been out? The view towards psychiatry has changed drastically in the last ten years or so. (At least in the vast majority of congregations. There are always some holdouts, of course.)
Cognitive therapy is still viewed very skeptically, I think. But a lot of Witnesses are on anti-depressants. And I actually had an elder (not a particularly liberal one, either) encourage me to go get professional help, when I told him about some of the things that happened during me childhood.
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Gretchen956
I have been out for about 12 years, maybe longer (didn't write down the date).. When I left I had been trying to get some help with the congregation regarding an abusive husband. Of course that meant that there must be something I was doing to cause him to treat me that way. In consequence I had become very depressed and was on Prozac. One of the last meetings I ever went to, one of the ministerial servants gave a talk on depression. The talk centered around "true" depression, caused (he said) by such things as a death in the family or some legitimate crisis; not to be confused with feeling sorry for yourself, in which case you should be ashamed of yourself for not relying on Jehovah to help you through the tough spots. Not a word about therapy. In fact, back then it was definately NOT done by the faithful and very much discouraged from the podium, as were college educations, etc.
I remember a conversation between two brothers (one an elder) when we were out in service one day (before the above incident).. One said, sister so-and-so is suffering from depression. The other brother shakes his head, "well, no doubt she'll leave the truth, then. Those that suffer depression rarely come back."
I think that's so ironic that the dubs prey on people that are dissatisfied and depressed and vulnerable to the message, and yet Jehovah's Witnesses have one of the highest rates of depression of any organized religion. (I actually saw a study on this) So then those that leave also leave because they are depressed?? (things that make you go hmmmmmm)..
Gretchen
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czarofmischief
Almost everyone I knew in the congregation was dealing with depression in some way -either through psychiatrists or perhaps alternative therapy.
But there was no direct condemnation of psychiatry that I ever heard. In fact, when I was in the loony bin, they came and visited me.
CZAR
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Nosferatu
How long have you people been out? The view towards psychiatry has changed drastically in the last ten years or so.
I've been out for 7 years. It seemed to be general knowledge that you don't go out and get professional help from worldly people, and just read a "good article" on the subject. "Good articles" fix everything - they tell you that Paradise Erf is the universal fix for every problem known to mankind.
The ones who were on meds in my old KH were viewed as spiritually weak, and still are.
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Gopher
How long have you people been out? The view towards psychiatry has changed drastically in the last ten years or so.
I've been out three years now, and was a regular meeting attender up till that point. I never heard one positive word in favor of the psychiatric profession the whole time I was "in" the organization. If anybody did go see one, it was on a "hush-hush" basis. And in earlier Awake articles on the subject, I do not recall any positive mention of the science of psychiatry.
So I'd like to know where these "drastic changes" in viewpoints were evident in JW-land.
It's important, because every congregation I knew of had people suffering depression.