Witnesses and anxiety disorder

by mana11 34 Replies latest watchtower medical

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  Iown Mylife

  @Torn, thanks for that - also you have to think that maybe the illness excuses are really not subconscious but just deliberately trying to get a'loose for a respite from the baloney, without getting disapproval and being called Bad Examples and lectured for Stumbling the Friends.

  One time the kh was vandalized and burned inside because some young guy who was studying with one of the elders, got mad for some reason and broke in and set a fire. All the whole insides had to be re-carpeted, painted, everything.

  Well this one brother said he could not be exposed to all the chemical smells, and would thereafter be calling in to the meetings. At the WT study the conductor would unfold a paper and read a comment phoned in ahead of time by this allergic brother. By the time I left several years later, that brother had never darkened the door again! Maybe he was enjoying that remote meeting attendance.

  Marina
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  Sail Away

  As a teen I had recurring nightmares about Armegedon and being imprisoned and tortured in a concentration camp. Being raised as a JW in the late '60s and early '70s was brutal. As an adult, I suffered from severe, recurrent clinical depression for decades and was diagnosed with Post-traumatic Stress Disorder in the early '90s. By the time I walked away in 2011, I had been through an out-patient hospitalization and was still suffering from panic attacks. PTSD never goes away, but I am off all medications now and am no longer depressed. The JW belief system is toxic in so many ways. It was not the sole cause of my anxiety disorders and depression, but played a major role in them.
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  LisaRose

  Sail away, I'm sorry you suffered for so long. I hope you find peace and healing now that you are out.

  My daughter was about eight years old when the yearbook with all the concentration camp stories came out. she was obsessed with fears about being put in one, it was a rough year.

  Field service, the solution to all your problems!

  Anxious? Go out in service.

  Depressed? Go out in service.

  Mentally ill? Go out in service.

  Broke? Go out in service.

  Sick? Go out in service.

  
  
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  Sail Away

  LisaRose
  Sail away, I'm sorry you suffered for so long. I hope you find peace and healing now that you are out.
  My daughter was about eight years old when the yearbook with all the concentration camp stories came out. she was obsessed with fears about being put in one, it was a rough year.

  LisaRose, I hope your daughter is doing better now. It's terribly hard to get those images out of a child's mind. Yes, 'Do More' is the JW mantra. I used to feel totally beat up and defeated after every, and I mean every assembly and convention. Nothing was ever good enough. I still struggle with that too.
  

  I practice and teach basic tai chi and meditation. It has been a life changing process. Sailing is great for the nerves and for confidence building too!
• 

  berrygerry

  http://www.jwfacts.com/watchtower/mental-issues.php
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  LisaRose

  Thank you Sail Away. My daughter had some serious mental health problems as a teen that included two suicide attempts. I was still marginally in the religion at the time but I never had her talk to the elders and she got therapy for five years. We all made it through and she is doing great now, happily married, a mom and she has a really great job. It could easily have ended otherwise so I feel very fortunate.

  I meditate also, it's been very helpful. I have pain issues and it helps me manage that as well as my ADHD. I am like a broken record here urging people to give it a try, especially if they are still struggling with JW issues, but it really does work. It takes very little time, costs nothing and has been proven to reduce stress, lower blood pressure and help with anxiety and depression. I am 60 and have a family history of high blood pressure, it used to be 140 or more, but since I began meditating daily it went down to 110 to 120.
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  Introvert 2

  Staying active any doing sports / training is what helps me most. That and shedding weight, sleep and diet. I was at risk for stroke, got to the point I was at 175 for a while. Now I run / jog near daily with intervals once or twice a week and lift, cycle or ski. No need to be a pro athlete, simply keeping active just works. That and having healthy personal barriers, an alien concept to most JW's

  As of this morning BP 110/70 with 67 RHR and 25+ lbs lost since last year. Isagenix prods. got me there on the fast track as well.
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  Lieu

  Yes, go out in service and ignore your worsening problems!

  Oh, Armegeddon is coming soon and since you aren't pre-chosen, I think that book bag is insufficient; might get you killed.

  Pep pep!
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  Finkelstein

  Of all the organized religions out there the JWs stands out as one that places a surmountable of pressure onto people which invokes anxiety, stress and fear.
  

  The constant drumming of Armageddon coming soon and are you doing enough to serve Jah and his earthly organization in the preaching service work or participating in talks, all equates to ones spiritual strength and appeasement to Jehovah.
  

  In addition to that idealogical pressure there is a constant watching over with scrutiny on a person's dress , social behavior such as who you are associating with. What are you doing as what movies and books your reading or what outside social activities or politics and education you are involving yourself in..

  Now compare that to other Christan based faiths where you are welcomed at every service meeting and not scrutinized to your dress or appearance, there is less judging being conducting onto people who attend their services
  

  You are not judged so intrinsically into your personal life and you not pressured by guilt as to your participation in the Church. Well most other Christian based faiths do not have a publishing house at its core operation and that consumes much of the difference to be realized.
  
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  stan livedeath

  over the last few years since i joined this site--and the wonderful world of ex jws--ive come across a fair number of females who have escaped the cult. A high number of them have all manner of illnesses--both physical and mental----that i had never heard of before. coincidence =-or what ?