Depression amongst JWs (page 3)

Londo111

A mall is a big open space. A place where you are not approached by others and asked questions that you are not 'well' enough to answer. There isn't the 'pressure' that a depressed person may feel from going to the Hall. The Kingdom Hall is smaller and can be very claustrophobic for a person suffering from depression.

I don't care for the mall, but I can testify to how claustrophobic the Kingdom Hall felt, especially after the Watchtower study that was telling me I wasn’t doing enough and pretty much doomed.

KateWild

marked for tommorrow

joe134cd

It would be interesting to see what the rates of depression would be amoungst all religious groups. It would also be interesting to see if the incidence of depression gets higher as the group becomes more conservative. I was reading that the state of Utah is one of the biggest consumers of anti depression medication, and no doubt the LDS Church also makes the same claim about their followers been the happiest people on earth as well.

skeeter1

"A District Overseer gave his experience as an assembly"

My first thought,"Is this for real?" I can't imagine a District Overseer at any assembly being permitted to talk openly about his own depressionl illness and addressing his sound reasoning as to why it is hard for the mentally ill to attend a KH. And, then admonishing the judgemental. Wow. Is the DO an apostate? Isn't the assembly supposed to be a whipping session, trotting out all sorts of exemplary JWs to give their stories of finding the meetings and field service invigorating and the answer to life?

My second thought, "Wow, on the JW facebook comments on this article!" Seems many understand that the meetings are a pressure cooker of group think and are craving a well reasoned excuse to not attend the meetings and to do so without others being judgemental. 400+ comments in a day . . . something is afoot within the Borg.

jam

My daughter told me, she hate talking to her mom. She said her mom

makes her (my daughter) so depressed. It's a little confusing to my daughter,

I'm the one that should be depressed, I left the truth.LOL

LisaRose

There was a study that showed increased mental illness, including depression, but it was quite a while ago, and the there were questions about the validity lf it. Anecdotally, I knew quite a few depressed people among the JWs, andI knew of six suicides during my thirty years, but it's very hard to know of they have more depression than any other group.

I can say that I suffered from depression as a JW. It's hardly surprising that being a member of a high control religion would not contribute to good mental health. For one thing, Jehovah's Witnesses are constantly talking about "this wicked system of things", they are invested in emphasizing the bad things in the world in the ministry and among themselves, as it proves to them we are in the last days, and Armageddon is just around the corner. They also are under unrealistic expectation of study, meeting and field service. Then you have the effects of families being split apart by disfellowshiping. It is not normal for mother to shun her own children, but that is what they must do.

Even after you leave you must deal the stress of losing family and friends and realizing you wasted years of your life in a cult.

compound complex

Thank you, Lois, for your kind, understanding words. You've been there and you are able to empathize.

We were given such a high standard at Bethel -- including multiple, time-consuming and enervating tasks -- that we were simply worn out, both physically and emotionally. Some wound up in the infirmary from exhaustion. Because we were willing (or just afraid to say no), we were given assignments in the congregation to shepherd the weak, to assist members with health and legal problems, to encourage them to follow the "rules," etc. What made this a challenge was that the congregation consisted of mostly poor, foreign brothers and sisters who spoke no English and were away from home and loved ones.

We little American brothers wanted to help -- OF COURSE! -- but we were kids with no experience in how to live our own lives apart from WT directives. The congregation became our life, but we were told Bethel came first.

How, then, do you proceed?!?!?!?

CoCo reminisces but sans the old pain

Billy the Ex-Bethelite

Once you know what's what, you find lots of depression and medication in Bethel.

Once I came back to the hometown congregation, there's lots of depression and medication there, too.

I will readily agree that there is lots of depression and medication in "the world" as well. However, JWs advertise themselves as "the happiest people on earth". That's deceptive.

Band on the Run

They say that our thoughts play a large role in our feelings. Cognitive therapy is an effective way of treating depression. I know when I was active that Witnesses dwell on the world's worst elements to the exclusion of seeing good. Only the WTBTS can be good. Creation is bad. Humans are bad. Government is bad. It was so heavy. To only see the bad in the world is flawed. I often see people remark about what I constantly felt-the feeling that you can never be good enough. More is always wanted. This mind set can lead to depression.

Iown Mylife

BOTR, exactly summed up how we constantly had gloom injections every meeting! I would drag myself home thinking What the hell use is there in getting out of bed in the morning.

Marina

Depression amongst JWs

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