After I left the "Organization" I started to play cards for fun and profit. Don't judge you learn a lot of about psychology doing that. I think a lot of JWs exhibit what is known as "loss aversion" - aka "chasing your loses". You watch people at the table invest/lose $1000, then they lose $10,000 trying to gain their original, $1000. They can't walk away from their original loss and in a few hours their down $100,000. And because of desperation they play badly and recklessly.
In psychology they refer to, cognitive dissonance is the mental stress or discomfort experienced by an individual who holds two or more contradictory beliefs, ideas, or values at the same time, or is confronted by new information that conflicts with existing beliefs, ideas, or values. Wikipedia.
What I get out of this is if the new reality contradicts their old beliefs they won't give up their old beliefs, so they keep on having this mental stress that they know their old beliefs were wrong but they don't want to admit it as they have all this time and effort invested in that idea. I know myself it took me years to accept that my own belief system was wrong and that I wasted all those years pursuing a lie. Most people are content to keep believing the lie as they have all this time, money and emotional investment in the lie. To me it is the stronger person that is will to stand up and admit they were wrong and move on with their lives.
Away from my point above, I also recall the day I was DF'd 20 years ago. The elder said to me, "don't play around to long in this old system as it is nearing its end." I know at least two of those elders on my judicial committee are both dead a few years after that.