This is horrific. If only he was helped sooner. He set the skull upon the Bible. It makes me wonder if its a statement of "This is your brain on Wt/religion" or he's paying his last respects to his father, in his thought disordered mind.
I know these type of topics seem a bit sensationalist but I'm one that reads them with interest. I have several relatives that are paranoid schizophrenic and violent. This includes obtaining firearms to use on anyone they feel are a threat when having delusions or hallucinations. I have other relatives with psychiatric conditions that require medication. I can think of ten right off, eight of them associated with JWs.
My adult daughter, dx with P. Schiz., on meds, lives with me long term. She is, how can I say, a human cult effect barometor. She does not believe many of the JW doctrines, but states she can not shake the fear of Armageddon or Gehenna and will attend the meetings every so often to relieve her conscience. We are careful not to oppose her. I try the 'care for your health & don't stress your self' approach which works the best for her mental & physical health.
Every time witness relatives show up, someone tries to "encourage her", she goes to a meeting, assembly, attempts FS, she starts in with the delusions and hallucination breaks with reality. She even talks about how its because she starts to feel so guilty and that she's not good enough. When she's away from the religious pressure she stays reality based.
All the witness relatives have shown up recently and news articles like this(it could have been my daughter) makes me want to vent. The trend I've seen with JW's in their ministry is "head in the sand" & not active encouragement of professional help in this location.
Edited by - wren on 15 June 2002 3:38:55