JW view of psychiatrists...

by Fleur 17 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

• 

  Fleur

  yesterday i was having a debate with my mother (who bucks the jw system by still talking to me even though i'm df'd, my parents are the only relatives who will see me) and she was going on about how the only people she ever knew who committed suicide had lost jehovah's holy spirit. that they were doing something wrong/df'd whatever. she said the same thing of people who go on medication, that it's the same as drug use and that its opening the door for demons.

  that was when i finally dropped the bomb on her, that i have been on anti-depressants on and off for more than 10 years. i have stopped taking them cold several times when i needed to (got pregnant, other reasons for another day) so they are not addictive. that they make my family's life easier by keeping me on a more even keel.

  well she spouted all the old wts views about how bad worldly therapists/psychiatrists are and how the only people who get that severely depressed enough to attempt/commit suicide don't have jehovah's spirit. so i said to her, does that mean that even when i was a teen and trying so hard to do everything right, going in service, meetings, all of that, that i didn't have jehovah's spirit then mom? she didn't answer.

  i realized just now reading on the watchtower quotes website, well no wonder she feels this way, i didn't realize the society's rhetoric about not going to a shrink go back all the way to the 1960's! course i wasn't even around then. so borrowing the quote from that website, here you go ya'll...this ought to get a laugh out of you. my husband read this and said "and who says JW's dont' have a sense of humor?"

  *** Awake! 1960 March 8 p.27 ***

  [Note: not available on 1993/1995/1999 CD-ROM]

  As a rule, for a Christian to go to a worldly psychiatrist is an admission of defeat, it amounts to 'going down to Egypt for help.' -Isaiah 31:1.

  Often when a Witness of Jehovah goes to a psychiatrist, the psychiatrist will try to persuade him that his troubles are caused by his religion, entirely overlooking the fact that the Christian witnesses of Jehovah are the best-oriented, happiest and most contented group of people on the face of the earth. They have the least need for psychiatrists. Also, more and more psychiatrists are resorting to hypnosis, which is a demonic form of worldly wisdom.

  happiest and most contented group on earth? what was the writer of this smoking?

  but on the totally serious side, i know so many people who needed help and didn't get it due to this viewing it as a failure of your christianity. did you know anyone that happened to, or did it happen to you?

  hugs,

  fleur
• 

  Stefanie

  Man, thats harsh. I got it when i was five, i wonder what they think of that?
• 

  Scully

  Does this issue ever put a burr in my saddle!!

  I won't bore everyone with a rehash of my experiences with postpartum depression, but suffice it to say that the instant that I decided I needed more help than the Loving? Christian? congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses was providing (meaning, NONE AT ALL) and got a referral to a psychiatrist who specialized in treating postpartum depression, I started to see the real ugliness in the hearts of many of the JWs I knew. Up until that point, I tried to excuse their behaviour on the usual everyone-is-so-busy-in-The-Truth? routine, but once I confided to a Sister? I trusted - I only told her that I was seeing a "specialist" recommended by my family doctor - the gates of Hell opened in my life in the way the JWs treated me and my family.

  Love, Scully

  One is often told that it is a very wrong thing to attack religion, because religion makes men virtuous. So I am told; I have not noticed it . . . .

  You find as you look around the world that every single bit of progress in humane feeling, every improvement in the criminal law, every step toward the diminution of war, every step toward better treatment of colored races, or every mitigation of slavery, every moral progress that there has been in the world, has been consistently opposed by the organized churches of the world. . . .

  My own view on religion is that of Lucretius. I regard it as a disease born of fear and as a source of untold misery to the human race. I cannot, however, deny that it has made some contributions to civilization. It helped in the early days to fix the calendar, and it caused Egyptian priests to chronicle eclipses with such care that in time they became able to predict them. These two services I am prepared to acknowledge, but I do not know of any others.

  - Bertrand Russell, Why I Am Not a Christian, and Other Essays on Religion and Related Subjects
• 

  Fleur

  ((((((((((((Scully)))))))))))))))))))

  i had HORRIFIC post partum depression. i've had major depressive disorder since i was 12, only got diagnosed/treated in my 20's when i was old enough to go myself because my family has the jw view of therapists. it's a literal miracle i survived my teens. having to stop medication while i was pregnant on top of my history made my post partum really long lasting and stubborn. i am so, so sorry that you had to go through not only the depression but also the treatment from jw's! grrrrrrr!!!!!!!! makes my blood boil.

  ((((((((((Stefanie)))))))))) doesn't matter what they think, honey, it doesn't change who you are!!!!!!! hugs!!!

  love,

  fleur
• 

  Rabbit

  Like Scully, I don't want to rehash the whole fun experience -- i'd like to be able to get some sleep tonight.

  Something was very wrong in my life, I had no joy. Since I was a good dub, I was told "You have to do more." "You need to re-devote yourself whole-souled to Jah and everything will be fine!" Etc.,etc *sigh*. Nothing worked. So one day I over-dosed on some pills. When I survived and was told by the MHMR people who meet the lucky survivors at the hospital that I probably have Major Depression (it was later confirmed) and needed to see a professional...I thought everyone would be happy.

  1. I was alive...

  2. There was a good reason for my behavior. I wasn't crazy, (very much, anyway)

  3. Best of all...there was help.........I could be helped, hooray.

  Wrong.

  It seems everyone thought like the above posts, I had lost Jah's Holy Spirit, I was probably guilty of something, wasn't doing enough, spiritually sick and it was even suggested I must have bought something at a Garage Sale that had a Demon, and it jumped in me (like Stargate 1, a gould).

  I was getting real help from a great psychiatrist, when I got home I would get the 3rd degree from my JW wife, now my X, about WHAT did y'all talk about...is he saying it's all my (her) fault? Then the stuff about how you have to be really careful -- cause it's a well known fact that those kind of Doctors can PUT wrong thoughts in your head, like leaving your spouse and leaving your religion, too.

  We ended up having words everytime I came home...I told the Doctor, he suggested having her come to the next meeting...so she could see for herself what was going on. Good idea ! Not ! I have never seen her so furious, she yelled and screamed, "How dare you make an appointment for ME ! There's nothing wrong with ME, there's only something wrong with YOU! You go if you want to, but, I'll never let people put thoughts in MY MIND!"

  Her family is top heavy with Elders & MS, for good advice. nlaa (not-laughing-at-all)

  And she never did let anyone put bad thoughts in her mind, she's still a great devoted JW.

  * sigh *

  PS: I am much better, however and very happy. Yes, I know it's all an illusion from Satan, but, as the song goes,"Sometimes ya' don't get what ya' want, but, sometimes ya' get what ya' n e e d ..."
• 

  Corvin

  What they said . . .

  *** Awake! 1960 March 8 p.27 ***

  [Note: not available on 1993/1995/1999 CD-ROM]

  As a rule, for a Christian to go to a worldly psychiatrist is an admission of defeat, it amounts to 'going down to Egypt for help.' -Isaiah 31:1.

  Often when a Witness of Jehovah goes to a psychiatrist, the psychiatrist will try to persuade him that his troubles are caused by his religion, entirely overlooking the fact that the Christian witnesses of Jehovah are the best-oriented, happiest and most contented group of people on the face of the earth. They have the least need for psychiatrists. Also, more and more psychiatrists are resorting to hypnosis, which is a demonic form of worldly wisdom.

  What they meant . . .

  *** Awake! 1960 March 8 p.27 ***

  [Note: not available on 1993/1995/1999 CD-ROM]

  As a rule, for a Christian to go to a worldly psychiatrist is sure sign that "the Truth" is bullshit and not working; it amounts to going to a professional instead of a hack. -Isaiah 31:1.

  Often when a Witness of Jehovah goes to a psychiatrist, the psychiatrist will try to persuade him that his troubles are caused by his religion, and although it is definitely true, we want you to entirely overlook the fact that the Christian witnesses of Jehovah are the worse-oriented, repressed and most mal-contented group of people on the face of the earth. They have the most need for psychiatrists. Also, more and more psychiatrists are resorting to hypnosis, which might bring out some repressed memories of rape or child molestation, and that is the last thing we, at Bethel, want! We hereby pronounce hypnotism to be demonic. Boo!

  Corvin
• 

  avengers

  *** Awake! 1960 March 8 p.27 ***

  [Note: not available on 1993/1995/1999 CD-ROM]

  As a rule, for a Christian to go to a worldly psychiatrist is an admission of defeat, it amounts to 'going down to Egypt for help.' -Isaiah 31:1.

  Often when a Witness of Jehovah goes to a psychiatrist, the psychiatrist will try to persuade him that his troubles are caused by his religion, entirely overlooking the fact that the Christian witnesses of Jehovah are the best-oriented, happiest and most contented group of people on the face of the earth. They have the least need for psychiatrists. Also, more and more psychiatrists are resorting to hypnosis, which is a demonic form of worldly wisdom.

  That means they are defeated. If you ask me (I'm gonna say it anyway even if you don't ask) from what I've personally seen most of them are on medication for mental problems, often prescribed by a General Practitioner. If you go to a General Practitioner they seem to think that's ok. They're not psychiatrist. This religion really screws with people's minds. The longer you stick with it the more medication you will need, so you won't have to go to a psychiatrist.

  But what the heck. Ban religion and a lot of shrinks are out of business. lol

  Andy.

  'round and 'round and 'round we go. Circle after circle. Where does it end? Give me my medication
  I have to consult the Spirit.
• 

  Scully

  ((((((Fleur))))) - I'll be sending you a PM today! I'm so glad you're back!

  Andy - I always LMAO when I see that GIF

  Rabbit writes:
  

  It seems everyone thought . . ., I had lost Jah's Holy Spirit, I was probably guilty of something, wasn't doing enough, spiritually sick and it was even suggested I must have bought something at a Garage Sale that had a Demon

  Those are exactly the same things that I heard. In addition, the Sister? I confided to refused to refer to the specialist I was seeing as a "specialist" or "psychiatrist", but kept using disrespectful language like "head shrinker", "shrink", and kept insinuating that if he found out I was a JW that he would "brainwash" me and 'make me leave The Truth?'. Someone even searched my home (unbeknownst to me) for possible demonized objects; their stated purpose for visiting was to 'cheer me up'.

  Now that I have some professional experience in this area, I seriously believe that JWs fear psychiatrists and psychologists and every other kind of legitimate mental health profession because one of the main goals of these professions is to help people to overcome false beliefs (delusions) and see things the way they really are.

  Delusions are defined as "fixed false beliefs that a person holds even in the face of evidence to the contrary."

  However, the Bible calls this behaviour "faith": "the assured expectation of things hoped for, the evident demonstration of realities, though not beheld." (Hebrews 11:1 - NWT)

  Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. - KJV

  Now faith is assurance of things hoped for, a conviction of things not seen. - NIV

  JWs don't want to "get real". They prefer their delusional mindset and want to draw as many people as possible into it. The goals of the mental health professions are diametrically opposite to the goals of the WTS (and other cults/fundies), and that is largely the reason why JWs are so afraid of and opposed to them.

  Love, Scully
• 

  blondie

  This is another case of the WTS written versus the unwritten rules. This is the most recent comprehensive statement on seeking a psychiatrist. Notice how they say it is "okay" at the same time "demonizing" the mental health profession. Most elders will not even mention going to a psychiatrist.

  w96 9/1 p. 31 Questions From Readers

  It should be mentioned, too, that while psychiatrists and psychologists have professional, postgraduate degrees, many others with no professional qualifications practice without supervision as counselors or therapists. Some individuals have spent a lot of money consulting such unqualified people.

  Even with a trained, qualified mental-health professional, there are things to consider. When choosing a medical doctor or surgeon, we have to be sure that he will respect our Bible-based views. Similarly, it would be dangerous to consult a mental-health professional who does not respect our religious and moral views. Many Christians are striving hard, despite mental and emotional confusion, to have "the same mental attitude that Christ Jesus had." (Romans 15:5) Such are rightly concerned about the attitudes of anyone who might affect their thinking or behavior. Some practitioners view any restrictions imposed by Scriptural beliefs as unnecessary and potentially harmful to mental health. They may approve, even recommend, practices condemned in the Bible, such as homosexuality or marital infidelity.

  These ideas are included in what the apostle Paul called "the contradictions of the falsely called ?knowledge.?" (1 Timothy 6:20) They contradict the truth about the Christ and are part of "the philosophy and empty deception" of this world. (Colossians 2:8) The Bible?s touchstone is clear: "There is no wisdom, nor any discernment, nor any counsel in opposition to Jehovah." (Proverbs 21:30) Mental-health practitioners who say "good is bad and bad is good" are "bad associations." Far from helping to heal unstable minds, they will "spoil useful habits."?Isaiah 5:20; 1 Corinthians 15:33.

  So a Christian who feels that it is necessary to consult a mental-health professional should scrutinize the qualifications, attitude, and reputation of the practitioner and the possible effect of any treatment recommended. If a distressed Christian cannot do this himself, perhaps a mature, close friend or relative may be able to help. A Christian who is uncertain as to the wisdom of a particular treatment may find that talking with the elders in the congregation is helpful?although the final decision is his own (or his parents?, or the joint decision of husband and wife).
• 

  Room 215

  Hmm... I wonder whether pressroom overseer Richard Wheelock's headlong dive into the pavement, not to mention several other Bethel suicides, got them to moderate their views on the subject.