Jehovah's Witness / ex-JW Suicide Rate?

by Simon 57 Replies latest watchtower medical

• 

  Simon

  I think it`s easier to just leave and forget about it,for the ones who joined/converted.

  I agree. Born-in's are screwed from the start. Converts? I actually always thought they were screwed up even when I was still in.

  I'm sure that didn't apply to all but many seemed to have 'problems' in some way. I could just never understand anyone being convinced enough to join even when I was selling it.

  I bet if we gathered stats of individuals we know that committed suicide as a direct result of being associated with jehovah's witnesses, we might find that the numbers are pretty high.

  That is just anecdotal though and what I think happens is people all count the same incidents - like the mother in the news who dies because of refusing blood.
  
  I can only recall one case directly in about 25 years of being at the KH, which would put the rate well-down compared to the generalized population figures.

  I always presumed someone must tally numbers for things like this (secular authorities) but any JW connection is probably not advertised so who would know?
• 

  James Mixon

  I know of three personally who committed suicide, but thinking about it before I became a JW and all my worldly friends I don't know of any that committed suicide.
• 

  nelim

  1440 means 1 per congregation per year?? Aren't there like 100.000 congregations worldwide? Would be 1 per congregation every 70 years or so.
• 

  Sanchy

  But, with ~9m members, the JWs should have about 1,440 per year to be on par with the general population (funny how the 1440... number feels so "WTS" like eh?).
  
  That would be about 1 per congregation per year ...

  ..wait, isn't there like 118,000 congregations? Correct me if I'm wrong, but my math shows it would be like 1 suicide every 81 congs or so.
  
• 

  Simon

  I may have been so focused on the 1,440 - 144,000 similarity that I mentally shifted a decimal point.

  I looked at the number of congregations and thought 120,000 was near enough to 144,000 that it was 1 each, of course it would be far less than that.

  Note to self: avoid math whenever possible.
• 

  Flg8ter

  I personally know of two. One was a teenage boy and the other was a man who got his letter for reinstatement denied. I have heard but not seen that the latter is more common than people know.
• 

  Lee Elder

  There was an ex JW counselor who wrote about this. Jerry Bergman perhaps. In any event, he thought the rates of mental illness were higher among JWs. I have known quite a few who ended their lives in one way or another. Here are some resources:
  

  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1174772

  https://www.amazon.com/Jehovahs-Witnesses-Problem-Mental-Illness/dp/9993195286

  http://www.caic.org.au/jws/medical/mental.htm
• 

  Black Sheep

  I know of several that have committed suicide without ever being baptised Dubs, but were subjected to the doctrines in their youth. They would slip past most statistical analyses models of Dub suicides.
• 

  punkofnice

  It's no secret that both remaining a JW or leaving the WTS can take a toll on mental health. Some will suffer from depression and ultimately some will have thoughts of suicide and a few will succumb to those.

  Yep. that's pretty much me, believe it or not. I went to a lonely wooded area with a knife with intent to end it all. I haven't discounted that I might attempt it again in the future, either.

  After a life of hardcore brain washing and hard-wiring in of dangerous fundie nonsense; when I discovered there was no god and death is final, everything became futile. I'm fighting it bit it's sooooooo hard. They lied to me about life. I could have made a better life for myself. I've wasted too many years in that cult actually believing their lies.

  Anyway, enough about me. I knew of a Jobo that topped himself and another elder that was on'suicide watch'. I don't know what became of that elder as it was around about the same time as I walked out on the cult.

  The WBT$ and all dangerous cults should be held accountable for this....I won't hold my breath! Thanks for listening.

  
  
  
• 

  Phizzy

  Punkie old friend, I was suicidal just after I left the cult, and I went and got Therapy, I beg you to do the same.

  I am so glad I did not top myself, life is so good now. An added bonus to not topping myself, the Therapy taught me to handle the rise of depression and shove it back down again straight away, it makes each day easy now.

  Back to the Thread, I have seen on here a link to a study that showed JW's do have a higher number of people struggling with their Mental Health than the general population, as do other cult like groups.

  I heard of about four suicides in the decades I was in, but two were probably not simply because they were JW's, one poor girl had lost the love of her life, and one guy was heavily in debt.

  I guess solid reliable figures are impossible to get.