So you believe in paranormal demons telling you things and chasing you in the night..............
Catholics generally no longer do exorcisms, not at least since schizophrenia was discovered
http://www.caic.org.au/jws/medical/mental.htm
The Scientific Research
Especially since the 1975 date (which was predicted to usher in God's kingdom on earth) failed, the numerous problems in the Watchtower congregations have received much mass media and scholarly attention. Most intensively studied problems include disfellowshipping, doctrinal disputes, and their recurring prophetic speculation failures. [4] Witness mental health issues have also been examined by many investigators.[5]
The writer, as a former Witness for over twenty years, was extensively involved in various administrative levels of the organization. This gave him first hand access to information relating to most social and bureaucratic aspects of the Watchtower. He has also used his decade of extensive clinical experience with Witnesses and an extensive literature review as a basis for his evaluation. Outsiders have limited access to inside information, and for this reason are forced to rely on official publications, all of which are viewed by Witnesses as quasi-inspired.[6] The literature reveals eight academic studies which explored the problem of Witness mental illness. These will be briefly reviewed by year, the oldest first.
The Rylander Study
Swedish psychiatrist Dr. Rylander investigated a sample of conscientious objectors imprisoned in Sweden. Of the 135 randomly selected cases, fully 126 were Witnesses. Of these 126, Rylander diagnosed 51 as neurotic, 42 psychotic, 32 as mentally retarded, and 5 as brain-damaged (some overlap exists because some cases were in two or more categories).[7] Diagnosis was made solely on the basis of behavior that was clearly pathological, such as irrational paranoia or severe long term depression, and not behavior that resulted from following Watchtower doctrine as non-social involvement with the non-Witnesses. Rylander also concluded from the subjects' medical records and his interviews that their pathological state was not uncommonly evident before conversion, but that the Watchtower's' influence was often detrimental to mental health, sometimes severely so.
About four percent of the eligible armed service Swedish population were judged psychologically "unfit" for military services. The corresponding figure for Witnesses was twenty-one percent, or a rate five times greater. This was very close to the same ratio found by Spencer [8] whose diagnosis of "psychotic" or "neurotic" was made on the basis of mental hospital admission screening. Few of the cases in Rylander's study were marginal Witnesses, and most were actively involved in the Watchtower. Rylander concluded that many of those he studied lacked an education, job skills, emotional stability, and quality social relations. Unsatisfactory employment records often existed because of psychological deficiencies, lack of ability or immaturity. Rylander found that Witnesses committed "...a relatively large number of small crimes and other misdemeanors which generally resulted only in a fine...three [Witnesses] have been imprisoned for stealing or harboring of stolen property, and 36 have been fined for various offenses (traffic violations, drunkenness, unlawful selling of alcohol, poaching, unlawful entering, etc.)" [9]
Neurotic symptoms commonly found in his sample included "feelings of discomfort, general anxiety, poor sleep habits, times of brooding over what they see as the meaninglessness of life, the wrongs they have suffered and the mistakes they have made." [10] Rylander noted that the Watchtower doctrine helped some adherents to explain "all of their problems in life, and has given them a satisfaction and calmness which has brought a measure of stability to their lives." [11]
He also concluded that individual Witnesses tended to be burdened with a variety of serious concerns and often joined the sect in an effort to solve their many problems. Although the results of this study are not fully applicable to today's situation, many of his conclusions are still largely true. [12] A major difference between his sample and today is that the Witnesses are now more middle-class and less socially rejected. Many Witnesses, though, especially those living in developing nations, still experience many of the same problems that Rylander reported.
