Hell yes public reproof was traumatic. At a sleepover w/ a bunch of fellow witness girls, we played truth or dare. Well, all 5 of us admitted to each other that we had participated in one way or another, in oral sex. One of the girls felt so awful, she had to report herself to her the elders, one of which was her father. In her confession she felt the need to report all of us. So, all 5 of us were publicly reproved. What really pissed me off was that I had an apartment w/ one of the girls, and had lived away from home when the "incident" occured. But, the elders still called my mother into the judicial meeting. I had to sit there and confess to giving and rec'ing oral sex. I can still see the look on my mothers face. When I asked the one elder why my mother was there, he said they felt I needed her support.
Then following the announcement to the congregation, a talk followed on immorality. Therefore, everyone knew we had committed some form of immorality. And the girl who originally confessed, well, she was never allowed to associate w/ us again.
Buffy