Do Jehovah's witnesses take therapy?

Gokumonkey

Hello there. I know two Jehovah's witnesses couple. The husband had a rough upbringing. His father left him at a young age, leaving his mom and himself to take care of his siblings. He had to learn things faster then any normal child. Now grown man and married he developed a porn addiction and even went to strip clubs and his wife didn't know of this. The wife how ever had a hard life. As a child her mother left her for a time and father didn't pay much attention to her. She was also molested at a young age. She and her husband were never able to have sex because of his inability to penetrate her. Aka they are adult virgins lol. The wife has an affair and is able to lose her virginity and has a baby.

My question is from my knowledge and experience with jw's. They always seek answers from the Bible or from the watchtower. Anytime I always had questions she would say look for this scripture of go on the jw.org. doing that never helped me answer my questions. I used to go to meetings but that would only give me headaches. (I'll speak more on that in the next topic I post). I feel google has more real answers then the Bible and I actually go to therapy and it has uncovered a lot of things about me that I never could understand by myself.

I feel as though he really need therapy but they don't take it as far as I know. What do you guys think about this? Ask me questions if u please

deegee

WT 1993, p. 13, "Trust in Jehovah":

“Worldly counselors and psychologists can never hope to approach the wisdom and understanding that Jehovah displays.......Rather than lean on the wisdom of prominent men of the world or on our own uninformed emotions, let us look to Jehovah, his Word and the Elders in the Christian congregation for advice."

deegee

WT 1996, p. 30, "Questions from Readers":

"Some, suffering severely from schizophrenia, bipolar disorder…and other distressing disorders, have been able to live fairly normal lives after obtaining the right professional help, (but) in many cases the patient does not have a severe mental disorder but has difficulty coping with some situation in life. However, it is the Bible that gives the most effective help in handling the difficult problems of life......The Bible encourages such ones to call on the Elders for help and counsel......"The prayer of faith will make the indisposed one well." "

stillin

I knew a Witness girl who worked as a teller at a bank that got robbed. They made counseling available to the workers who were there. She declined, but noticed that she was creeped out at home and at other times. So she accepted the bank's offer and confided in me that it was a big help. She was a regular pioneer, married to another regular pioneer and they both went on to Gilead. There was no injunction against getting counseling at the time, early 2000's but she knew not to broadcast it because of the perceptions of others.

Gokumonkey

Wow so sad.

Gokumonkey

To me if he have a tramatic experience and don't take any therapy it would seriously effect them in the future. That's why I hear so many messed up stories about suicides an such after being DF.

deegee

James Mixon

When to stop JUST praying and seek professional help. Nearly 50% of Christians believe that prayer alone is powerful enough to treat mental illness.

jwundubbed

When I first started exhibiting symptoms of extreme PTSD as I was on my way out of the JWs, I went to a clinical psychologist. I started by telling her that I had been a JW and that it had been a very bad experience. She contradicted me by telling me that she had about 14 JW clients and they were all very nice and good people.

I didn't know current JWs went to therapists. But they do.

I told her that I just wanted to work on ways to deal with the symptoms that I was experiencing. Luckily I was going out of town to go to college so I could tell her that I would seek further counseling there and she did help me deal with the physical symptoms that were disrupting my life. And I did seek further counseling.

I never ever go to a counselor or therapist who thinks JWs are great people. I have met quite a few. So, despite what the Watchtowers may say... some JWs do seek outside counsel.

Also, my mother is mentally ill. I met a lot of mentally ill people in the JWs. Most of them had medications. You don't get medications unless you have them written by a licensed professional. Some people went voluntarily. More than a few of the ones that I knew had been involuntarily committed to mental hospitals. So, they received required and mandatory counseling. Sometimes even JWs have to function according to the law and are therefor required to attend professional counseling of some kind.

scratchme1010

I feel as though he really need therapy but they don't take it as far as I know. What do you guys think about this? Ask me questions if u please

I agree that they indeed may need therapy. Personally I don't see the connection to watching pornographic material and going to strip clubs and having a rough childhood, but I am not a professional in mental health.

I don't know if the WT has a specific stance on counseling and therapy. I don't recall them directly discouraging people from seeking professional help. However, they do tell people that service is the answer to every problem and keeps the away from everything and anything "wordly". They also teach that their bible is the answer to everything. Additionally, many of their literature suggests that when there are issues that it may be their fault or due to them having some kind of impure thoughts or lusting after wordly things, or because of objects in the house possessed by demons, or because of non-JW family members being too much in their lives. Blame the victim, in other words.

They do believe that people's problems magically disappear by doing their Jehovah nonsense, and if that doesn't happen it may be because they aren't spiritual enough.

Do Jehovah's witnesses take therapy?

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