Prevalence of JW Suicides - Real or Imagined?

by AMNESIAN 82 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  reagan_oconnor

  I attempted suicide at 14 by overdosing on 9 Percoset and 41 aspirin (no headache jokes, please! )

  Dad found the empty bottles in the bathroom trashcan and told my mother that he thought they should take me to the hospital.

  "Let her stomach burn." This was the response of my mother.

  I locked myself in the bathroom and vomited, and suffered no long-term ill-effects of the attempt, but my parents never even considered taking me to an elder, let alone therapy. It was pushed under the rug, never again to be discussed.

  I cannot believe that I suffered so much as a child.

  Reagan

  
  I am the master of my fate/I am the captain of my soul.
• 

  Billygoat

  Reagan,

  I'm so sorry to hear the callous attitude of your parents! Stories like that make me sick. Sick, sick, sick!!! If you read my story, I think I'm your sister! Haha!

  Isn't having a non-blood apostate "family" better than what we were born with???

  {{hugs}}

  Billygoat
• 

  Maximus

  To the top, in the event it may be helpful to "troubled."

  Max
• 

  Lady Lee

  I have quite a bit of experience with this both personally and as a professional.

  15 years ago I was suicidal. I was in an abusvie marriage with an elder and doing a great job of pretending that everything was wonderful and that we were the perfect JW family. Secrecy and lies to hide all the pain inside. And when I went for help I was reproved as looking to the world. I think what they didn't want - well actually was told to never admit I was a JW to my counselor = more lies and secrecy to protect the borg instead of helping people

  When a sister in the congregation was dying of cancer I was at her home every day to help her family. My husband told me that my time would be better spent going from door-to-door instead of wating my time with a dying person. My conscience would not let me abandon her and her family and I was reproved for this.

  After she died (with me holding her hand) I was told that as an elder's wife I was putting myself above others and should be more submissive to the elders and go door-to-door.

  I left shortly after this.

  I also had a dear friend who died in a drowning "accident" Strange thing was that she was absolutely terrified of water - took them a half hour to baptize her because of her fear. The idea of her going into the ocean for a swim was ludicrous but that was the offered for her drowning.

  Also know of a young man who committed suicide after he was labeled "weak"

  As a professional who has counselled many abuse survivors and some ex-JWs I would say that most definitely there is a myth of JWs being the happiest people on earth. As a few have very eloquently stated there are abundant reasons for feeling like you don't measure up.

  JWs are taught that no matter what the Borg teaches unquestioning acceptance is mandatory. There is a constant fear of being seen doing something that one should not do. Or of not doing enough. or saying the wrong thing. To the wrong person.

  The mindset of the Borg is abusive and results in post-traumatic stress disorder for all members. And just like any member of any abusive family - the members usually blame themselves for problems and rarely look to the parent/org as the problem. Anyone caught in this type of mind-trap will become depressed - but few will recognize it due to the mind-control techniques used on them.
• 

  larc

  Lady Lee,

  I went to your web site and I read your story. I also read your critique of Thomas Szasz's concepts. I must say, you are very knowledgable, a good writer, and a real asset to this forum.
  I would be most interested in your thoughts on my writing about the dynamics of the religion and how it sets up the ingrediants for depression and suicide. I posted this earlier on this thread.

  Thank you for your contribution.
• 

  Lady Lee

  Hi larc. I see you waste little time.

  Well I did read all of the thread including your post. As I was reading I was thinking of various issues and I have to say you pretty much summarized all of my thoughts.

  The book "The Orwellian World of Jehovah's Witnesses" pretty much sums up the experience of the being one of the Borg. They say they are not based on works - but they are. They say they are a "happy people" but they are not. They say that they are a people of love but they are not - to wit - my experience with a dying sister - in good standing I might add. The insistence of uniformity in an organization of diversity. Their insistence that they alone are God's instrument capable of giving food at the proper time but they keep changing their minds. Their condemnation of all other religions - for doing the same things they do. The list goes on and on and on....

  No wonder people become unstable or sick both physically and mentally. The pressure to perform is unbelievable

  Oh I should add their insistence that they are not a cult when they clearly are. Their playing with language to convolute the truth - the real truth that is.

  The mind-boggling way they play with the "truth" to meet their own needs at the expense of the people they are supposed to be helping only serves to depress people more. And once a person is in a depressed state (complicated with all the mind-control) the less able they are to see just how controlled - and depressed they really are. It becomes a never ending cycle. And since you can never ever win in any abusive situation the only escape is to do just that - escape - and if you are lucky it is before they drive you to suicide as the only escape

  BTW the only reason I didn't try is that I figured that if I did then God would not forgive me but I could maybe go back later when I was stronger.

  Well I got stronger after I left - got the help I badly needed and well I won't ever go back now
• 

  AMOS

  There was a study done in Western Australia some years ago which showed that Jehovah's witnesses had 16 times the average population rate of schizophrenia. This can be located in medical literature. What the study did not show was did Jehovah's witnesses attract people with mental health problems or was it the system that exacerbated underlying problems. My husband and I have been raised as Witnesses and we know of 16 cases of suicide and 1 attempt involving 2 family members, close friends, and acquaintences over a period of about 20 years. I am vaguely aware of a similar study in Switzerland but have no references. The number of women who only talked suicide in our congregation was staggering. What a tragedy.
• 

  larc

  Amos,

  I see you are new here, and dealing with a very serious subject. Every day I read something new here that makes me just shake my head. When you have known of 16 suicides, it is so hard to realize. It must have given you great pain.

  I hope you will contribute to other threads. Some of them are actually very light hearted. Welcome, and please share more of your thoughts.
• 

  AMOS

  How can the video be obtained?
• 

  AMOS

  Having been in the "truth" for a long long time with parents and grandparents I knew from them that "no blood" was not always the case. It started out by the Scty banning vaccinations because they did not believe in germs. When research positively showed there were germs, you were still not allowed to be vaccinated because they used horse serum.... and so it went on. If you have access back to the old Watchtowers, like 1884 and onwards, poor old brother Russell himself would be dfd today for being an apostate. Another area that is not looked at is the number of abortions for the sake of the "truth" when in Armageddon was supposed to have come in the 1940- 1950's (54 to be exact - 40 years from 1914, and those in full time service could not afford to be pregnant. "Woe to them etc.. I've actually met women who had this done because of the ostracism rained down on them for falling pregnant. More tragedy.