by Honesty 23 Replies latest jw friends
In the circuit that I was in 16 years ago, 5% of the "publishers" were suffering from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.
These included my wife, and my (then) 12 year old daughter.
Conversely, since I broke with the JWs 12 years ago, I have never even HEARD of anyone suffering from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.
It did indeed seem that JWs were more prone to these more obscure illnesses than others.
Jack.
You'd think that they'd be as fit as fiddles: all that fresh air when they're out window cleaning.
Cough, cough.... hack, sneeze.............. I think, maybe, I kinda, might have chronic fatigue syndrome. Oh my,, I guess I better stay home.
wouldn't want to get the brothers sick at the kingdumb hall.
I can only speak for myself but lately even if I have a sniffle I stay home from the meeting. Its a result of the stress of knowing that the whole JW system is bullsh*t! Maybe there are many others in other congregations that suffer from this same problem of mine.
I remember from my time being in that there was a lot of depression as well as weird and wonderful illnesses that nobody had ever heard of...personally I think some of them were predominantly psychosomatic; perhaps I am a clutching at straws here but if you think of the controlling environment we were in its very likely.
Consider the fact that you were supposed to not let your heart rule your head; by shutting down your emotions you are cutting off a vital part of your mental function and the witnesses suggest that thinking and feeling are two different and seperate things...wrong, they are different but part of the same overal function; feelings come from the mind and so do thoughts.
By shutting down one part of the function this has to lead to an imbalance and this could have some negative effects surely. Perhaps its this conflict that can make people more susceptible to depression or other mental illnesses.
Theres also the social pressures which are placed upon us...the performance targets; the belief that we must do more in an ever constricting timescale and routine; this can almost allow people to feel out of control over their own workload and as such this can lead to excessive stress and anxiety.
Also too consider the controlling family environment that some are within where the husband is suppose to rule the roost and wifey is supposed to put up and shut up without dissent; again this can lead to stress, depression and certainly to increased anxiety.
I will be the first to say this isnt based upon any medical study I have undertaken but how likely does it sound?
Db74
I do see it as a problem among JWs, but it is also a problem among a specific strata of the general population. I deal with injured workers, and it is amazing the impact emotional health (or the lack thereof) has on the body and its ability to heal. I have never seen a truly emotionally healthy person with CFS. In fact, even doctors will tell you that it is triggered by an emotional event.
I suspect there are a good number of emotionally unhealthy people among JWs, as there are among all fundamentalist religions. They are the most needy, so the appeal of being 'God's special people' readily appeals to them. In addition, being sick is the only 'acceptable' reason for not performing. You should see peoples faces when they ask me if I missed meeting because I was sick, and I reply, "No, I just wanted to."
I do agree that there were an awful lot of sick persons, and the hall would only be half full most of the time, due to illness.I beleive it has to do with the fact that they are in each others company 5 meetings a week, and service, how many times a week??!!The bugs justkeep going from person to person. However, and I'm using my parents as the example here, I have to wonder, how many were just using "illness" as an excuse to stay home?! I'm not saying there weren't plenty who were really ill, but my parents use any, and I mean any, excuse they can, to stay home from the meetings...they've done it for years.
This is a common problem in the USA, and I'm sure elsewhere too, But nobody was physically ill only mentally.
(stress,which can lead to physical sickness)
It was their minds trying to tell them this ain't right, they just couldn't put 2 n 2 together and figure out it's all Bull shyte.
We had one sister who used her son to get out of comming to meetings, it seemed he always had a fever or something on meeting nite , but any other time he was fine. (He was the healtheist sick kid I ever saw)
Acadian
ah, if I had a dollar for every witness I know that claims to be suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome....
I've never known a more sick group of people! I remember long ago - before it had a name - two sisters in my hall that suffered from envrionmental sensitivites - couldn't take the dust in the carpet, peoples perfume etc, and had to have the meetings taped for them (way before the phone hookups). It's funny they could go out to other places and not have any problems, just not to the hall or service. I've known many people with CFS, lupus, and other unexplained mystery illnesses that the dr's could never figure out what it was.
Then there were always the ones that would come to the hall no matter how sick they were, and they always seemed to sit behind me and cough and sneeze. Man I hated that. I got sick after every DA. I dreaded the DA because of how sick I'd get afterwards.
BB
