EVERYONE LOOK! I NEED YOUR SUPPORT! (page 2)

hubert

Melba, How about sending copies to newspapers for their "letters to the editors" section? Maybe that will get some heads turning?

Hubert

Preston

Melba, when I went to ASU there were papers and studies on file of mental illness in Jehovah's WItnesses, do you have access to a college library or their catalogue?

MelbaToast

Preston, yes I do, and I have a couple papers that I have found so far. However, the journals are hard to find, and my lazy ass doesn't want to drive downtown :)

We have a wonderful medical library here for IU (Indiana University) and it takes me mustering up the effort to drive in crappy traffic- I have quite a few listing that I have found.

I have a watchtower on this subject. You would probably find it interesting to see what the Jw's have to say. Let me know if you're interested. I know for myself the past few months, since leaving, my depression appears to have disappeared. Funny huh. I wonder why? No more doom and gloom at the Kingdom Hall maybe. My hubby and I have always said that the truth is a weirdo magnet. I never found the people at the meetings all that happy, they were all depressed. How could you not be depressed around that bleep, bleep da bleep, bleep. Sorry, I had a moment. They came to my house today to doom and gloom me somemore but I didn't answer the door. That must have really pissed them off. Oh, pardon me, they don't get mad, just depressed. Rusty

Tim Horton

The elder that was coming to my door grew up in a nudist colony. How weird is that. No joke. I used to bug him about it and ask him if he actually walked around naked. He said" yes, that's why it was a nudist colony"
Rusty

under74

Hi melba-I was looking at Granny Linda's post here and I think she's right about it not just being limited to JWs-although JWs have a different slant then some of it's religious cousins (seventh day adventist, christian science, mormons).There's a book that has to do with some of the history behind American religion Mystics and Messiahs: Cults and New Religions In American History by Philip Jenkins. I wouldn't say it's a great book but it puts some of the history into context. I don't know if you've looked at rickross.com. It's mostly articles on cults and cultish religious groups but Rick Ross has worked with people exiting cults and there might be some insight into this subject. You can e-mail [email protected].

MelbaToast

Ms. Horton: Yes I would be interested in that, I want to make sure I have the WTBTS's opinion on that if you could email it to me, I would greatly appreciate this. You can pm me later and Ill give you my email addy.

I have not looked at rickross's sites, but I do realize that this is not just a JW thing. Most of the research I have done deals a lot with 7thday adventists, mormon, and other "established sects" As far as sociologist and psychologists can tell, there is a thin line between a cult and a sect; the thin line relates to traditional values- and whether or not the sect can fit around society in general or are they holed up in a big compound around only other people like em

just food for thought

Jankyn

Here's what my shrink told me yesterday: I may not have been "hard-wired" from birth to be depressed, but a childhood that included the excessive stress and abuse of my Witless upbringing could certainly chemically "re-wire" a developing brain to cause depression. The brain has chemical reactions to the environment; JWs deliberately create a stressful and abusive (self-esteem denying, at the minimum) environment; what follows next is a bunch of mentally ill people. In my case, it really wasn't my fault. I left as soon as I was old enough to leave. Now if I could just bill them for all the mental health costs I've incurred trying to recover.

Interestingly enough, this shrink does a lot of work with the local school district. He told me that the only children (6-12 year olds) he's ever seen with clinical depression who do NOT have alcoholic/drug addicted parents were the children of Jehovah's Witnesses. Hmmmm...being a JW does the same kind of damage to your children that being a drunk and a junkie does? That would be an interesting study.

Jankyn

MelbaToast

Well, it might....they are all abuses. Traumatic events, like seeing other children get beat in the bathroom while other people watched and sometimes smiled....creepy.

I always got a bad feeling in the back of my stomach when kids were taken to the bathroom. Still do just thinking about that image. And these people we had to call brother and sister? how f'd up is that? I have made a decision with my paper: I will start with the first memories of the KH, and trek my adventures through childhood, ending at my disfellowshipment.

And then, I will never speak of it again. This will be closure for me and a part of my life that is gone. Im going to start anew, and rid myself of all these negative feelings, bitterneses and just plain sadness that encompasses those memories.

I have to look at my new life and stop dwelling on the past. Everyday is a new day and I can make the best of it.

EVERYONE LOOK! I NEED YOUR SUPPORT!

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