Posts by Aaron James Eldridge

I actually think that there is money to be made. Counselors that are self-proclaimed "exit-specialist" can be in very high demand because there are so few of them.

From a scientific inquiry standpoint, all long as a researcher can get funded it does not matter if the research results in money being made. It is more a matter of what are acceptable questions to ask.

For instance, I would never get a grant if my stated goal is "finding out how cults psychologically damage people". First, I would have to prove that 'cults' exist and then I would have to show evidence of harm. All of that evidence would have to come from within the accepted scientific literature. And there is not much substance to be found.

17

Greetings from a from J Dub and current Psychology of Religion scientist

by Aaron James Eldridge in

jw
friends

greeting everyone!

it is good to be back on here, i used to be on here years ago (prob.

8ish) under the moniker mystruggle.

Aaron James Eldridge

jp1692,

I should have been more specific. I was referring to academics involved in the scientific study of religion and there are quite a few fields and thousands of individual researchers. Some examples are the sociology of religion, historical anthropology of religion, ethnographic anthropology of religion, Religious Studies(which is its own field that combines bits and pieces from all fields), and the little folks...the psychology of religion.

The reason I say that "most of their work is unconsidered or discounted as extremist in academia" is due to several lines of evidence.

1. Michael told me this himself when we were on a project that was spearheaded by MeadowHaven. I had never met him before and we only had a few conversations together, in which I asked him about acidemias acceptance of his work. He basically relayed the above sentiment.

2. The work of these people highlight how fundamentally damaging these groups can be for individual members that leave/are expelled from the group. If their work was accepted there would most likely be some form of accepted and accredited counseling devoted to caring for former members. There are groups out there, like MeadowHaven, but these are people that have taken it on their own to train themselves how to care for former members. As it stands there are no programs of specialized training dealing with cults in any level of mental health care from psychiatry to psychology to counseling.This stands in stark contrast to the highly specialized nature of these fields.

If a person desires there are programs of training for nearly any area of interest. The lack of training signals from the powers that be that they don't believe there is a need for such training, i.e. the problem of cults is really a fictitious one.

3. Sociology. There are two major camps within sociology, the New Religious Movement folks and the Anticulters. Really to call it two major camps is a misnomer, it's more like New York City in contrast to Slapout, Alabama (like slapout in the middle of no where, yes it is a real place, haa). The last conference I went to, the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, had several talks around new religious movements and none around cults. There was one talk on deconverts from JW's, extremist fundamentalism, and Latter-Day Saints. That talk was couched in the overarching framework of fundamentalism. There is no way the speaker could have ever gotten away with calling them cults, even if that is what she believes.

4.I could keep going and talk about who get published in what journals/ publishing houses and why that matters, but it would belabor the point.

The plain and simple of it is they just ain't respected and that's a shame!

17

Greetings from a from J Dub and current Psychology of Religion scientist

by Aaron James Eldridge in

jw
friends

greeting everyone!

it is good to be back on here, i used to be on here years ago (prob.

8ish) under the moniker mystruggle.

Aaron James Eldridge

But the main point of the post is in hopes that former Dubs know they have an ally in the scientific study of religion, which is unfortunately uncommon. The vast majority of academia discounts our experience or even outright rejects the notion of cults. That is not to say there is not important work out there.

People like Steve Hassan, Robert Jay Lifton, Margaret Singer, Louis Jolyon West, and Michael Langone, have contributed invaluable work. Unfortunately, most of their work is unconsidered or discounted as extremist in academia. I think they are hitting on some fundamental realities that relate to things we have experienced. And the academics will only understand/accept when research is conducted in a fashion they deem as credible.

Conducting research that is accepted and sheds light on the harm is one of my chief aims.

17

Greetings from a from J Dub and current Psychology of Religion scientist

by Aaron James Eldridge in

jw
friends

greeting everyone!

it is good to be back on here, i used to be on here years ago (prob.

8ish) under the moniker mystruggle.

Aaron James Eldridge

The intent is that I don't want people to feel like there is anything wrong with concealing their own identity. I doubt anyone will think I am wrong to reveal my own identity. I just don't want people to perceive that by revealing who I am that I also think everyone else should do the same.

17

Greetings from a from J Dub and current Psychology of Religion scientist

by Aaron James Eldridge in

jw
friends

greeting everyone!

it is good to be back on here, i used to be on here years ago (prob.

8ish) under the moniker mystruggle.

Aaron James Eldridge

BTW, just so there is no misperception. I have no problem with people on here concealing their identity. There are many valid reasons for doing so, especially if a person is still in or is attempting to maintain ties to current members.

As for myself, I don't have any such concerns. So, here I am :)

17

Greetings from a from J Dub and current Psychology of Religion scientist

by Aaron James Eldridge in

jw
friends

greeting everyone!

it is good to be back on here, i used to be on here years ago (prob.

8ish) under the moniker mystruggle.

Aaron James Eldridge

Greeting everyone! It is good to be back on here, I used to be on here years ago (prob. 8ish) under the moniker MyStruggle. I am a former JW, born and raised a son of an elder. Left when I was 21/22 years old and am 34 now. The main reason for mentioning that is in the interest of full disclosure, something we know the WTBS is infamously praised for :)

I will be brief here but may follow up with a longer post if interest warrants a detailed response.

Basically, I have entered the fray of the scientific community, albeit it just barely at the moment, to address several issues surrounding religion, behavior, and well-being. I am just entering my first year of studies en route to a master's in research psychology and eventually a PhD. I feel honored to be studying under Dr. Ralph Hood as I am learning this field because he was instrumental in advancing the psychology of religion in the 60"s and following.

I have several research interest and I am already investigating some concerning ritual observance. The most interesting one I have, at least to me, is how belief systems affect our judgments about the world and ourselves. Further, how do those belief based judgments affect individual well-being, psychologically speaking of course.

If you are are interested, as time goes on I will post the details of my research projects and any results from my studies.

One thing I deeply believe is that as a budding scientist (or any scientist) have a responsibility to make our research accessible and relatable to people that our work can impact.

Again, greeting to all and I hope we can become well acquainted over time!

-Aaron