Simple answer
YES
Does the WT attract needy dysfunctional type of people?
by William Penwell 52 Replies latest jw experiences
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blondie
The vast majority are not like this; the ones that are suck the air out of the room. -
steve2
Which is why it becomes complicated answering questions about the incidence of mental illness in the ranks of Witnesses.
Frankly, many who converted as adults to the organization were already somewhat mentally troubled and vulnerable to simplistic promises even before the Witnesses knocked on the door.
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William Penwell
Reading through the comments I have to agree that I think it is the society that creates these dysfunctions. I was born and raised as a dub. I think I have a more passive personality, compared with my older brother who was more an alpha male type. Now as an alpha male I think it is either you say enough of this garbage and get the hell out or you play the game and become a leader of all the passive types. As far as my self because I was not an alpha male an organization like the dubs exposes that approval seeking side of ourselves to their benefit. The only difference is unlike my brother I had an open mind and was willing to read and learn to know it was a load of garbage and did a slow fade. Now I agree that some of the passive aggressive, approval seeking tactics that we are talking about, I was guilty of using them to. Only since I have left the organization have a leaned to communicate better, without using those tactics. Someone like the person I described I think are so emotionally immature that they still fall back on those passive aggressive tenancy in order to get their way. In their narcissist mind they are the only person that counts and there is only one conclusion in the end, that is to win, to get their way regardless of what tactics they use. -
William Penwell
The vast majority are not like this; the ones that are suck the air out of the room.
So true it maybe a minority put those types I like to refer to as toxic people seem to like you said just "suck the air out of the room".
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William Penwell
Frankly, many who converted as adults to the organization were already somewhat mentally troubled and vulnerable to simplistic promises even before the Witnesses knocked on the door.
Defense to the Wt but I think all closed control groups or cults attract a similar type of people.
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theliberator
It most certainly does. In my former congregation, we had many, what I call, "lock outs". Basically always having prior arrangements for service. Always 4 normal people with no room to spare. It was done intentionally. Especially by elders. Leaving people like me to be victimized by what I called the "wack pack". Our congregation had a large one and growing.
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ShirleyW
Yes, I agree they Borg attracts dysfunctional people, my mother included. Someone pointed out to me that people with mental issues need some kind of schedule to keep them busy and something where they can jot down notes to remind them of what they've done and/or what needs to be done. That's what da troof provides, daily field service and weekly meetings that must be studied for, jotting down from the meetings for future reference.
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talesin
Does the past get fuzzy with age? I remember elders who ruled with an iron fist. One of my earliest memories is qualkng with fear at every meeting, knowing that any signs of fidgeting would be swiftly dealt with, and in my case, would include a visit with the wooden spoon.
To quote our Presiding Overseer "...and when you take your children to the bathroom, that's when we really want to hear them." (circa 1962/63) Some of these people were monsters, including members of my own family. Let's not live in denial. And they weren't 'new converts' that came into the Lie 'lately'.
How many threads can you find, devoted to people telling their stories of abuse, viciously promoted by the 'old guard' of the R&F, who ate up Knorr's and Franz's crazy rantings like candy? How quickly we forget, when waxing nostalgic about the monsters at the King-dumb Hell.
What is up with that? The WTS does not value children. If you are one of the 1975 generation, or any other born-in after that, and are being shunned by your immediate family, you must realize that this is a monstrous act of violence being perpetrated on you. The WTBTS is the master of the plan, but it takes individuals to execute that plan.
If we were talking about Nazis, what would you be saying? Would you blame the individuals, or say 'they were just following orders'?
Good grief. -
Scully
Needy people are attracted to those who are confident, and JWs behave in a confident way. The WTS is very confident in their message (even though it's wrong!) and that gives a needy personality an anchor to cling to. Neediness is a form of social anxiety, and the (false) confidence of the WTS and JWs helps an anxious individual to have some manner of tending to their anxiety, helping them focus on something other than themselves and their fears. The WTS offers them hope that if they just do such-and-such, they'll learn to be like so-and-so, who is confident and able to get up on the Platform™ and speak to an audience, or go Door-to-Door™ and speak with authority to complete strangers.
They could learn the same skill set by going to Toastmasters, but Toastmasters doesn't recruit Door-to-Door™.