Jehovah's Witnesses and The "Mentally Diseased" - Is it projection?

by fade_away 5 Replies latest watchtower medical

  • fade_away
    fade_away

    If this is not the epitome of irony, I dont know what is:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrBXTvuAT1g&feature=related

    They call those who simply don't agree with their totalitarian dogma "Mentally Diseased" when there is documented evidence that points out that they are simply projecting their own issues on a group of others they deem "undesirables".

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_projection

    Being a born-in, I grew up as a Jehovah's Witness and was in for twenty-three years. Watching this brief little snippet sheds a whole lot light on my experiences and interactions with people in the organization. In fact, we had many members in our congregation who were on medication for a variety mental illnesses ranging from mild depression to paranoid schizophrenia. Since mental illness still carried some stigma in our congregation, I imagine some people were also not so open (or maybe tried not to be as obviously insane) as others. I know my mother had serious neurotic tendencies and exhibited patterns of narcisism that to this day remain untreated.

    I remember there was this brother who had paranoid shizophrenia and you could always tell when he had forgotten to take his medication because sometimes he would try to grab at things in front of him that weren't there or he would talk to someone imagined; all this would occur in the middle of the meeting that was taking place or sometimes even in field service! one of his antics would be telling the householder that he was Jesus and they would have listen to what he had to say in order to live in paradise. And, no, I am not kidding! He was the cause of many an embarassing moment for those who were stuck with him at service. What made it worse was that he was never given the title of pioneer but it wasn't for a lack of enthusiasm. Since he couldn't work he would constantly be out on service and he was militant, to say the least, in his efforts.

    Any of you have similar experiences?

    -Mrs. Fade_Away

  • heathen
    heathen

    with all that , maybe they are in the right place , keeps them from mingling with sane people since they can't have friends outside the friends. Maybe we just put some padding on the walls and floors and keep a few straight jackets handy then tada we have us a regular funny farm .

  • fade_away
    fade_away

    lol, @ heathen. Oh there is no denying that. I do feel bad for those that are still halfway sane and want out who still have to deal with all of it, especially when it's someone really close to home, like a husband, child, wife, mother, father...

  • Kojack57
    Kojack57

    Fade away: that was an eye opener. Thanks for the video.

    Kojack

  • blindnomore
    blindnomore

    fade away, I watched it with my Jehovah's Witness apologist family. Thank you for posting the video.

    I know significant number of JWs from my former Congregation were suffering with various mental diseases. It's really sad what this cult is doing to their followers.

  • TMS
    TMS

    Honestly, the video comes across as a pseudo-scientific smear job, cherry-picking isolated quotes from the studies. I have no doubt JW mental illness is higher than non-JW, but 10 to 17 times as frequent? Come on! Witnesses have a deeply ingrained disrespect for mental health professionals. They go to the elders with their problems and to Jehovah in prayer. That would certainly be reflected in any interview. When the video started talking about misinterpretation of scriptural passages, it betrayed a sort of sectarian point of view, not appropriate for an unbiased study.

    What I can identify with is a higher rate of mentally ill, mentally-challenged folk becoming JW's. Those were our Bible studies, ex-brothers and sisters! lol As far as poor employment history is concerned, that's simply the religion in many cases, not individual mental health. That's the window washer/elder syndrome.

    Before JW's can be analyzed accurately, they have to be understood. I don't think this video interpreted the studies with understanding, but simply an agenda.

    tms

Share this

Google+
Pinterest
Reddit