Panic attacks and Jehovahs Witness!

by Gill 46 Replies latest jw experiences

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  Fleshybirdfodder

  I started getting horrible panic attacks, ones that would make me think so irrationally that suicide seemed the only solution, and it caused me to return to the religion after I had been out for about about two years. The elders told me they were demon attacks. That terrified me even more. The problem was that they didn't subside after I had returned and I wondered what I was doing wrong. I started throwing things out like crazy around the house trying to rid myself of whatever was allowing the demons in. For a solid year I slept with the lights on and kingdumb melodies playing (I can't believe now how terrified I was) I then started doing research online, and really the rest is history. I realised many people suffered from anxiety problems, and that I had to confront my fears and really look at my belief system. Five years later I'm still working on it, but I now know how to deal with it, what to avoid (Kingdumb halls!) and how to talk through it. Gary hit the nail on the head. If you are a Witness, and really swallow what they are jamming down your throat, you are living in a constant state of anxiety, and for me, terror.

  FBF
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  chasson

  I had often panic attacks when i was JW in KH. ironically, if i stopped swearing my jacket, i might controlled it more easily, but for that, elders forbade me to carry the microphons, because a "brother must wear a jacket, to have the right to carry microphons"
  
  
  Even if have had two or three panic attacks since i left JW, i could now be in a big crowd without be scared, perhaps and surely because now the "people" are human like me before to be part of "the world" or "evil".
  
  Bye
  
  Charles
• 

  Warlock

  Because of the panic attacks I started having, I had to quit the Ministry School and could no longer read for the book study or the WT study. I wasn't the only one, either.

  Warlock
• 

  metatron

  YES!!!!!!!!!!

  I got panic attacks out of nowhere, as a Witness ,and I now realize why! Just as you can push your body too hard, you can push your

  mind and spirit too hard - and then 'something breaks'. Many Witnesses do this, as driven by peer pressure and guilt and I was one of

  them.

  metatron
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  gumby

  Panic attacks among Jehovah's Witnesses? Ah c'mon! Jehovahs Witnesses are the most happy and secure people on the planet doncha know? They live in a spiritual paradise and have Jehovah's spirit....so how and why would they have panic attacks? Only worldly people have emotional problems......sheesh!

  Gumpanic
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  cruzanheart

  [raises hand due to JW upbringing] Me! Me! I had dreadful panic and anxiety attacks after I left the Witnesses (and actually for some time before I left), and I spent a year in therapy working it out. I'm feeling MUCH better now. I think it's because we're conditioned to think that if we deliberately leave the Witnesses (a/k/a "The Truth") then we will die and condemn our children to death too.

  If that's not a cult mentality, I don't know what is. One of my co-workers was raised Catholic but isn't a practising one at the moment, and she says there's nothing like that in other religions. You can come and go as you like without fear that your family and friends will stop speaking to you or you're doomed to everlasting death or anything like that.

  So validate your reality: it IS that hard to leave.

  Nina
• 

  love2Bworldly

  This thread is bringing back horrible memories for me--I was an extremely introverted, shy, teenager with low self-esteem and severe depression. I started having panic attacks at the KH--the first one was while giving a talk, after that it was when I tried to comment at meetings, then it started happening at school whenever the teacher would call on me, then it turned into Agoraphobia, and I would have panic attacks just mingling with people at the back of the hall or standing in line at the bank or other public places or going door-to-door.

  Funny how the longer I was away from the religion, the less anxious I felt, and I can't remember the last time I had a panic attack.

  I think another person hit it right on the nose, when they mentioned how this cult religion messes with your mind and takes away your spirit.
• 

  juni

  Me! Me! I had dreadful panic and anxiety attacks after I left the Witnesses (and actually for some time before I left), and I spent a year in therapy working it out.

  Thanks for sharing Cruzanheart.

  I, too, have had this horrible and scary experience. I thought I was having a heart attack. Had someone drive me to the dr. and they hooked me up to a machine. Blood pressure was high and some irregular beats, but as I relaxed I was fine. Doc said it was a panic attack.

  I grew up in an emotionally abusive situation (not related to JWs), then became a JW when 20 yrs. old and left 21 yrs. later. I have always been "high strung". Probably part nature and nurture. I have battled anxiety all my life and still do. I think that's all my mind and body knows. I am so tired feeling wired all the time. I am on meds which helps to a certain degree. I most always feel that I'm on the verge of a panic attack. I'm always talking w/myself to relax, relax, relax.

  Juni
• 

  garybuss

  The Jehovah's Witnesses say: "If you don't work for us, our boss (God) will kill your kids.". Think hearing that 5 meetings a week and reading it in your spare time will make you anxious?
  
  
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  juni

  Good morning Gary and AMEN AMEN to your words

  Also hearing the doomsday message blah blah over and over and over again at the CAs and DAs. And in conversation between doors with some.

  Juni