JW's and mental illness...stats?

mikepence

Does anyone know of any actual studies or published statistics about JW's and mental illness?

Thanks,
Mike Pence

MikeMusto

Does it look me or my brothers and sister have mental issues?

Valis

Maybe this is a good place to start.

Sincerely,

District Overbeer

The National Institute of Health estimates that at any point in time, 20% of the population has mental problems. Bergam concludes that JWs have 5 times the rate of mental illness compared to the general population. This would mean that at any point in time 100% of the JWs are menally ill. I don't beleive it. Also, the study he referenced have major discripencies regarding psychosis. Rylander reports a 30% rate, while Pescor reports a 7% rate. This indicates that the estimates are pretty sloppy. Furthermore, either Pescor or Bergman concluded that the 7% rate was 17 times hhigher than the general population rate. Now, one percent of the population is schizophrenic and 3% have a bipolar disorder. Those two psycoses add up to 4%. Therefore, the JW rate would be about 1.8 times higher, not 17 times higher. This 17 times estimate is another example of sloppy work. Although we may never know, I think the rate of depression and anxiety disorders is much higher among the Witnesses. I do not think the rate of psychosis is any higer than the general population. Pschosis is genetic in origin, not environmental, a fact the Bergman does not acknowledge.

mikepence

Thanks, larc. I don't want to quote biased studies or questionable numbers. Bergman is a great writer, but when he turned from JWdom to Xtiandom, he lost me.

GermanXJW

Please also take a look here:
http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/forum/thread.asp?id=31682&site=3&page=2

nancee park

Larc is dead wrong, Bergman correct. 20% of the general population may have mental problems of some sort but here we're talking about it being so serious their is a need to lock them away. That percentage is lower than the 20%, maybe 5% which would mean, if so, that up to 20% of JWs have extremely serious mental problems that may require institutionalization. Get your facts straight, Larky.

ISP

Life as a dub is pretty bad as we all know...which would drive anyone mad! But the WTS targets the vulnerable which would includes the mentally unstable. So like a magnet these types are drawn. I would imagine if you profiled the make up of WTS intake you would see the whole sad picture. The stats if reliable may not tell the whole story.

ISP

Imbue

LOL...S o, 5% of the population requires being institutionalized? LOL...Your assertion that 14 mil people in the US would required being institutionalized for mental illness is extreme. Then, your saying that about 312 mil world wide would need to be locked up, as you phrased it. I'm not aware of the real st atistics but your statistics don't seem realistic. LOL...Your saying that 20% o f all JWs need to be institutionalized? Well, maybe these statistics are your personal experience. My observations wouldn't support your claim that 20 % of all JWs need to be locked up for mental illness. Then, this thread wasn't about personal experience but statistics. How could anyone do statistical research on a group of people that would refuse to cooperate with such research? W ho provided these statistics? Larc please explain more about how these statistics are gathered. Then a re these stats considered scientific research? btw..Nancy your asserting that 20% of JWs would required being institutionalized for mental illness. Does this assertion also apply to ex-jws?

Kismet

Jehovah's Witnesses are good little sheep. Anything they read goes through their JW filter, gets sorted out and anything that fits into their own personal belief structure (what they want to believe) goes into memory and gets processed. Anything that contradicts their personalized beliefs (as they want things to be) gets discarded as either being lies or half truths or mistated facts.

Some people even after they leave the Borg maintain this same flawed filtering system.

Essentially its similar to a child plugging their ears singing "LA LA LA LA" I can't hear you!! LA LA LA LA"

Right Nancy?

Kismet

(Added by edit) How many times does it have to be explained about all the flaws in bergman's papers before you can admit to even the possibility of error? (sigh)

Edited by - Kismet on 7 August 2002 18:43:57

JW's and mental illness...stats?

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