Anonymous
2004-11-07 09:45:31 UTC
A Ministry of Misery - Mental Illness and the Jehovah's Witnesses
"Happy is that people, whose God is the LORD" Psalm 144:15. This
indicates if a person's God is the LORD, Jehovah, he will be
happy. If his God isn't Jehovah he may not be happy. If he is
miserable, certainly his God could not be Jehovah. If people are
following God in the right way, they will be characterized by
happiness. The mental health of the Jehovah's Witnesses speaks
something of their relationship with God, or lack thereof.
Psychiatrists have an important tool they use to diagnose mental
illness. For a parallel, consider medical doctors. They use
tools like the thermometer and the stethoscope. If a person has
a lot of germs in his body, the temperature will rise. A
thermometer helps detect the problem. The doctor can also tell a
lot about a person's physical health by the stethoscope.
Psychiatrists likewise have a simple tool they use.
Question. The psychiatrists tool is a simple question. That
question is, "Are you happy?" If the person says, "No. I am
miserable," he has revealed the chief indicator of mental health
problems. If a person is happy and is honest, we cannot really
say he is sick. Mental health does not look at any disease
process in the body tissue. It primarily looks at, are you happy?
Let's ask that question of Jehovah's Witnesses. "Are you, as a
Jehovah's Witness, happy?" Dr. Jerry Bergman's experience from
working with hundreds of Jehovah's Witnesses and congregations
of Jehovah's Witnesses for over 20 years is, they are miserable
people with very few exceptions! They know they are not happy.
But are they going to tell you that? Obviously not. They are not
going to sit down and tell you their problems. Doctors have an
advantage from doing therapy with the Witnesses year by year.
Naturally, when they are coming for help, they are going to tell
what is wrong and what their problems are. That is why they pay
doctors to help them. The patients know they have to be honest
and tell how they feel in order to be helped. Imagine going to
the doctor and the doctor says, "Well, how to do you feel?" The
patient responds, "It is none of your business!" That patient
could not be helped very much. Doctors have found a large number
of Jehovah's Witnesses to be very unhappy people. They are
miserable!
Depression. What are some of the problems the Witnesses have?
All kinds of mental diseases could be listed. Essentially, the
main problems are depression, feeling of helplessness, worry,
doubt, and conflicts in the congregation. The elders try to
enforce extremely rigid rules. For a few years wire-rimmed
glasses were condemned. If a person came into a Kingdom Hall
with wire rims, that individual would have to sit down for a
conference. He would be told, "We notice you are wearing wire
rims. You are falling out of the truth. We are concerned about
this. We think you need help." It becomes absurd after a while.
And as you can imagine, trying to enforce this much rigidity and
this much conformity, creates problems. When one really believes
the Watchtower is God's organization, the elder becomes God's
representative. In a sense, what he says is almost like God
saying it. Therefore, if an elder says a person is immature
because of wearing wire-rimmed glasses, that is like God saying
you are immature because you wear wire-rimmed glasses! This
causes people to feel depressed and to say, "I'm a bad person!
I'm terrible!" And naturally they feel guilt, worry and doubt.
Impressions. Of course, Witnesses try to paint a picture to
outsiders that they are happy people to give a good impression
of the Organization. They want to convey the idea, "We are all
happy. Join the Watchtower Organization." Psychiatrists,
psychologists, researchers and other sources have much to say
about the emotional problems of the Jehovah's Witnesses.
Hundreds of Jehovah's Witnesses were contacted including a
number of high-ranking officials in the Watchtower. The
leadership typically responds, "But we do not know what to do!"
Then they reject solutions. While the Witnesses lack happiness,
they are obligated to pretend as if they have it.
Contradictions. "Well," you might ask, "How do they rationalize
this? How do they go around believing, 'We have the truth. God
is with us. He is using us. And yet we are miserable'?" Some of
the Witnesses conclusions sound rational even though they are
false. First, they believe those inside the Watchtower Society
are God's people. Everybody outside the Watchtower Society is of
Satan. They reason, Satan would try to do everything he can to
be nice to those outside of the Watchtower because he has all of
them. They consider those inside the Watchtower to be Satan's
failures. Therefore, Satan would try to make everyone inside the
Watchtower Society miserable. The Witnesses reason that their
general unhappiness, thinking the people on the outside are
possibly happier, proves they are God's people. If you reason
through the problem with them in this way, they would probably
say, "No, not quite." But in conversation you can see they
really believe it.
On the other hand, they teach the opposite. They teach the only
ones who are truly happy are those within the organization. They
say those outside are miserable because they are not in God's
Organization. The contradiction is somewhat upsetting to the
Witnesses; but they should at least think about it.
Many Jehovah's Witnesses are aware of the serene contentment of
godly Christians. This can cause them some paranoia.
Psychiatrically, the most common mental illness among Jehovah's
Witnesses is known as paranoia schizophrenia. Most studies show
that it is at least four times higher among the Witnesses than
among the non-Witnesses.
One can understand how they would become paranoid. They see
people outside of the Organization who seem to be happy while
the Witnesses are not happy and they know they aren't. When a
Christian talks to them about their error, it often makes sense.
How would you expect the Witnesses to react? Frightened! It is
frightening to people to feel they are wrong. At this point they
can either change their beliefs or they become paranoid or crazy
with mental illness! The Witnesses commonly refuse to
acknowledge any value from what other people have to say.
RAMIFICATIONS OF THE MENTAL ILLNESS PROBLEM
Condemnation. The Witnesses constantly point to the worst in
everyone else. They are the biggest pessimists in town. When
something happens somewhere in what they call "Christendom",
they immediately grab on to that and exaggerate it. Witnesses
constantly talk about food shortages and people being laid off.
They are constantly worried about droughts and earthquakes. When
something like this happens, they all talk about it. What would
you expect from such a negative view of life? People become
depressed. Many times Witnesses go home very depressed after
talking about all these things. It frightens them. Many school
age and preschool Witnesses have nightmares from what they hear.
When parents talk about the tragedies in the world all the time,
how would you expect young people to react? They become very
frightened and very insecure.
Suspicions. In pointing to the worst in everyone else, the
Witnesses have a distorted view of people. They are suspicious
of everyone. They tend to feel everyone else is bad and out to
get them in one way or another. They feel that a large
percentage of non-Witnesses are homosexuals, sexually
promiscuous, thinking only of material things, and are really
the lowest sort of people. How do they respond to others? If you
felt that everyone out there was a homosexual, a murder or a
cheat, you would be pretty careful about associating with those
kind of people. Should you be friendly with them? "You'd better
not! They might be homosexuals!" Jehovah's Witnesses are fearful
of associating with other people.
Alienation. The Witnesses ideas about other people causes them
to isolate themselves. They live in a world of their own. They
live in constant fear of everyone else. How difficult to believe
"My friends at the Kingdom Hall are the good people, and I
wonder about them sometimes. But everyone outside is bad and
trying to get me." Therefore, they really can't enjoy other
people. They really can't help other people. They are afraid
people are going to ensnare them in something, in all kinds of
things. This fear in psychiatric terms of alienation is called
"anomie". A separation is established. Psychiatric problems are
a very significant factor in developing mental illness. If a
person has plenty of friends and can satisfy this need for
company, affiliations, associations and to feel at one with man,
he will go a long ways toward avoiding mental illness.
Isolation. It would help if the Witnesses could satisfy the need
of trust within the congregation. In other words, "O.K.,
everybody out there hates me, and I hate them, but at least if I
have my brothers in the congregation I'll be all right. I'll
have friends." But what happens? What happens when you have a
list of rules that travel without end, condemning incredible
things? For example, calling a bulletin board a "bulletin board"
is taboo. The term is improper because the Roman Catholic church
calls it a bulletin board. Therefore, you have to call it an
"information board". If you slip up one day and call it a
bulletin board, people would look at you and say, "You are
immature. You are not very well grounded. You must be falling
away." What a difficult situation to be in! Then people inside
the congregation go around and condemn each other. They are
suspicious of each other. If a person slips up, they may stay
away from him and avoid any unnecessary association.
In essence the situation is, as a whole the Jehovah's Witnesses
cannot satisfy these needs within the congregation. They cannot
feel at home and as one with those inside the congregation. It's
hard for them to respect each other, because they are constantly
breaking these minor taboos, and occasionally, some of the major
ones. What happens? They feel alone in the world. They feel, "I
am the only one! I am all by myself." That is a very difficult
feeling to live with. This condition is incredibly strong in
developing mental illness. People with a lot of friends do not
tend to develop mental illness. Rather, the people who do not
have many friends are the ones who are quite susceptible. Every
psychiatrist recognizes this law of behavior. You need friends!
It's like the law regarding food. If you do not eat after six
months, what is going to happen? You are going to die! If you do
not have friends, if you live by yourself and isolate yourself
from other people for six months, you'll suffer mentally.
Various scientific terms describe this. A person literally
withers away without friends. The hermit, in contrast, may do
all right because he makes up imaginary friends. He talks to
them and has fun with them. Or animals become his friends. Since
animals do not fully replace people, a hermit tends to act a
little strange after a while. The stereotype is that he will
become mentally ill and talk to himself. But, why would he talk
to himself? He does not really have friends. Isolation is a very
important factor which influences the development of mental
illness among Jehovah's Witnesses.
Expression. Another contributing factor leading to mental
illness is that eventually the Jehovah's Witnesses become afraid
to talk to each other. For example, if you and I were both
Jehovah's Witnesses and I told you all my problems, what may
happen? Consider the problem the Watchtower Society had with
wire-rimmed glasses and colored shirts for a period of time. If
I sat down and told you I secretly wanted to wear these, what
may happen? You may listen and you may understand and try to
help me. But you might not. You might go and tell the elders of
my sins. Then what? My sin, or my contemplated sin, may become a
subject of gossip in the congregation. This commonly happens.
The first, second or third person I confide in may not expose
me, but it will happen. When a Witness confides in another, that
person might listen and seem to try to understand or he may
condemn the individual. Then the problem shared in confidence
becomes the subject of congregational gossip. What happens next?
You would not confide in another Witness again! Then what
happens? Again, isolation!
DETECTION OF THE MENTAL ILLNESS
A person may ask, "Well, how do you know for sure the mental
illness rates are so high among the Jehovah's Witnesses?" What
scientific studies are available to show it is high?"
One study was done by Dr. Spencer. He is an Australian
psychiatrist. He included every admission to several mental
hospitals all over Australia and found the number of those who
were Jehovah's Witnesses. He asked if they were Jehovah's
Witnesses. Quite a few Jehovah's Witnesses would say, "I am
not." They often would not admit on record that they belonged to
the Society. One reason for their denial is that the Society
looks down on psychiatrists. Secondly, Witnesses may be willing
to protect the Organization's reputation even if they are
hurting. In spite of some dishonesty, Dr. Spencer found that
paranoia schizophrenia was four times higher among the Witnesses
than among the population as a whole. He agrees this is probably
an underestimate.
Another psychiatrist, Janner, is Swedish. He did a study on all
those who were imprisoned because of their objection to military
service. This was a good sample of the Jehovah's Witnesses,
because in essence he had access to every male between the ages
of 18 and 26. He psychiatrically examined all of them. Janner
found that of all those held, 85% were Jehovah's Witnesses. He
found the mental illness rate was about 40 times higher among
the Witnesses than among the population as a whole. Statistics
taken at face value are simply estimates. Probably a few
Witnesses acted insane in order to go on hospital status which
was a better atmosphere. Others who were rated as insane were
only trying to act insane. Others, because of the trauma of
being in prison, actually were insane. However, they may have
behaved somewhat normally in their life outside. The estimate is
probably high; but it does say the percentage of the mental
illness rate is much higher among the Witnesses than among the
population as a whole.
A study by Precore in 1949 was an examination of all Jehovah's
Witnesses imprisoned because of their objection to the selective
service law. He found, 16% were in the hospital for one reason
or another. Of these 16%, 44% were diagnosed as psychotic. 50%
had medical problems as blindness, deafness, or some other
problem. In other words, Precore found that 8% of the total
Jehovah's Witnesses diagnosed were psychotic. Psychotic means
you are legally insane. 8% means the mental illness rate,
according to the study, is again about 40 times higher among
Jehovah's Witnesses than among the population as a whole.
Another study was by Rylinder. He examined Jehovah's Witnesses
in prison because of their conscientious objection. He found
that the mental illness rate was 32 times higher than the rest
of the population.
We are aware of no study where the mental illness rate is the
same or lower for Jehovah's Witnesses. The research says, it is
much higher.
Documentation. An expansion on these studies and further
information is available in Dr. Bergman's book. You may obtain
your copy from: Witness Inc., P.O. Box 597, Clayton, CA 94517.
(A complete catalog of materials is available upon request.) The
Mental Health of Jehovah's Witnesses, order #787, costs $9.95.
Add 10% for postage and handling in the U.S.A., 20% for other
countries, 8% sales tax for California residents.
IDENTIFICATION OF THE REASONS FOR THE MENTAL ILLNESS
Dereliction. Why is the mental illness rate high among the
Witnesses? One common reason is, even though the Jehovah's
Witnesses are dedicated to the Watchtower Society, the
Watchtower doesn't seem to be very dedicated to Jehovah's
Witnesses. They seem to be very callused. Dr. Jerry Bergman
worked at the clinic at one of the Watchtower assemblies. One of
the Witnesses working with Jerry was a medical doctor. He
related to Jerry that at a previous assembly three infants died
of sunstroke. Younger children can very easily dehydrate and die
in the sun. The doctors thought they would go to the
administration and ask them to just make an announcement,
"Mothers, be careful! It's hot out here. 90 degrees. Don't put
your infants in the sun and leave them there for two hours."
They refused. They said, "We can't spend precious microphone
time with personal announcements." Both of the doctors later
left the Society and found a real relationship with Jesus Christ.
There are so many complaints about the Society. If a Witness
writes the headquarters a 10 page letter, he may receive a brief
response in 6 months, "We've received your letter. Thank you."
The Society often publishes something that may seem valid and
logical to them, but their conclusions are way off. Way off! So
they have to change again in few months. Some Witnesses have
spent years doing research, even typing sixty pages of their
study and the Society said, "Thank you. We have received your
letter. When we get time we will look at it." They do not
acknowledge the observations or the value of the report. If the
study is wrong they should say, "It is wrong." They sometimes
do, but they usually don't. How would you feel after doing a lot
of research and trying to be helpful? After this happened to one
Witness, he sent another letter saying, "Dear Brothers, if you
were a baker and discovered there was poison in your bread,
would you say, 'Well, we'll take it out when we have time'?" In
other words, "I think I have found some poison in the teaching.
If it is poison, you should take it out. Now! If it's not poison
you should let me know so I can take it out of me. But let me
know!" Again, they were too busy. That's upsetting! One could
cite dozens of examples where the Watchtower was not at all
responsive to the needs of the Witnesses.
At the Brooklyn headquarters a teenager was working on an
elevator and fell down the shaft. Why didn't the Watchtower have
someone working on it who knew what he was doing? Another was
working on a press and lost his arm. They sent him home with
nothing! "You can't work here anymore. You can't run a press
with one hand." There are similar incidents.
Preoccupation. The Witnesses express a constant concern over the
picky stuff. The white shirts were an issue for about 4 years.
The wire-rimmed glasses were an issue for about a year. Hair is
a perpetual issue. It is said the Witnesses talk about dress
more than anything else. The talk is mostly critical of what
other people are wearing. They are very preoccupied with this,
partially because they are overly concerned with the image they
are trying to present. Much is spent on the proper attire to
make each one a clone.
Intimidation. Another problem stems from the continual stream of
articles in their publications which present ideas that are
completely foolish. For example, one idea originating from one
of their leaders, Schroeder, is that one's feelings, attitudes,
likes and dislikes are not from the "mind" but from the "heart".
They believe when Scripture says the heart reads a man, the
heart is physical. They should know the Greek word actually
means the seat of the emotions. The Watchtower taught the
literal heart is what makes you think! "You do not think in your
brain. You just store things away in your brain. The heart does
your thinking." They asked at an assembly some years ago, "Now
is this a pump? No. It is not a pump. This is where feelings,
ideas and spirituality emanates." A clear problem arises from
their supposition. Surgeons have taken the physical heart out of
the body and replaced it with a plastic heart or another
person's heart. The Watchtower taught the heart is the place of
feelings and if you took it out and replaced it with a plastic
heart, you would not have any feelings. But what happens when a
physical heart is replaced with a steel pump? The person thinks,
acts and feels the same way. His feelings don't change. For a
while the Witnesses taught if you received the heart of a
criminal in a heart transplant, you would be a criminal. You
would take on that person's personality. There is just no
evidence for their preposterous idea. It's foolishness!
Witnesses talked about this for two years. They have not brought
it up for several years now as far as I know. Someone must have
let them know the whole idea is just totally wrong, totally
fallacious. You can't be saying things like that without loosing
more credibility. That "new light" was not very bright! They
apparently have not come out to admit their heart idea was
wrong, unless it was just recently, but they may have to
sometime.
Associations. The social problems among the Witnesses is
critical. They have a clichi among themselves. "When you move
into a new congregation, you love everyone, at first. But after
six months you find out everyone's faults and they find out your
faults." Then the Witnesses don't like each other anymore.
A religion that stresses works for salvation inspects their
people. They have said, "If you have long hair you won't survive
Armageddon. You will be destroyed forever." So naturally, they
are very concerned about outward appearances. To wear wire-
rimmed glasses meant for a time a person was obviously lost. As
a result, "I'd better not associate with you. Your badness may
contaminate me, causing me to be lost. So, I have to be leery
about you." Speakers at the assemblies say, "Remember, not all
those on the inside are really Jehovah's Witnesses." Witnesses
look around and think, "Maybe he is not really a Jehovah's
Witness." They do not really trust all the others. The Witnesses
are constantly suspicious of anyone who is different. If a
person is different in some why, he is going to be singled out
as, "Well, maybe he is not quite a Christian. Maybe he is not a
good Jehovah's Witness."
Education. The Witnesses put down differences among them. This
includes both higher education and lower education. They are
very suspicious of college graduates. Not many are among them.
They are also very suspicious of people with very low levels of
education. There is pressure for everyone to have a high school
diploma, no more, no less. They are rigid on that. Although if
you only have a grade 10 education the pressure usually is not
so great. A doctors degree is very hard for them to deal with.
Anyone with education is a threat to them. They are preoccupied
with humbling people, especially those who are well known and
those who have good jobs. What does the humbling amount to?
Putting you down! They constantly put down wealth from the
platform. In essence they are saying, "If you are wealthy you
must not be a Christian. You must be bad, or you are likely
bad." The same holds true with education or prominent jobs. What
happens under this constant degradation when people happen to be
Witnesses and happen to be wealthy? They are going to have a
hard time. They are susceptible to an inferiority complex. This
is exactly what happens to those who are different.
Promotions. Jehovah's Witnesses are constantly striving for
status within the congregation. They cannot have much status
outside the congregation. Working toward promotions is wrong.
They cannot get a good job that may take away from Kingdom Hall
responsibility, that's wrong. They can't do well in sports,
that's wrong. They can't perform in front of an audience, that's
wrong. "You are exalting yourself." You can't do well as an
artist, that's wrong. "You are exalting your own works." They
are constantly criticizing whatever things people do to be<
liked and to be respected. The Witnesses tend to think the only
ones who can earn recognition is the Watchtower Society. All
glory should go to the Watchtower Society and Jehovah. A lot of
Witnesses give up their careers. One Witness had the opportunity
of going to the Olympics and they convinced him not to. "Oh, you
are bringing glory to yourself and the nation." What happens to
these people? They become frustrated. They have no place to say,
"Look what I accomplished."
The exception to the restricted personal promotions is within
the Kingdom Hall congregation. As a result there is a conflict
for status and a power struggle. The men jockey for the position
of "elder". The Witnesses respect that term. They do not just
say, "An elder." They say, "He is, an, ELDER!" A lot of prestige
goes with the office. Men constantly suggest, "Well, I know
Brother Jones does not study his Watchtower every week. I do not
think he would be qualified as an elder. I! I study my
Watchtower every week. So, brothers, I would appreciate you
taking that into consideration when the appointment for ELDERS
is made." Men constantly talk this way. Then when a person
becomes an elder others try to shoot him down. If there are 20
elders, one doesn't have much status. If there are only three he
has more status. So, "I am an elder. These 19 other men are
elders. If I can remove them, I am more important." A similar
scenario happens with the "Pioneers". Constantly, people tell
their own status. "I am a PIONEER!" And you know within 10
minutes who are the pioneers. They walk by and say, "Hi. I am
sister Jones. I am a pioneer!" The Watchtower Society is aware
of this effort for recognition, so they say, "Now, brothers and
sisters, if you are an elder or a pioneer, you are just a
servant." They tend to put down leaders. Yet, the Witnesses know
the status of these people within the congregation is respected,
so they still strive for positions.
"Happy is that people, whose God is the LORD" Psalm 144:15. This
indicates if a person's God is the LORD, Jehovah, he will be
happy. If his God isn't Jehovah he may not be happy. If he is
miserable, certainly his God could not be Jehovah. If people are
following God in the right way, they will be characterized by
happiness. The mental health of the Jehovah's Witnesses speaks
something of their relationship with God, or lack thereof.
Psychiatrists have an important tool they use to diagnose mental
illness. For a parallel, consider medical doctors. They use
tools like the thermometer and the stethoscope. If a person has
a lot of germs in his body, the temperature will rise. A
thermometer helps detect the problem. The doctor can also tell a
lot about a person's physical health by the stethoscope.
Psychiatrists likewise have a simple tool they use.
Question. The psychiatrists tool is a simple question. That
question is, "Are you happy?" If the person says, "No. I am
miserable," he has revealed the chief indicator of mental health
problems. If a person is happy and is honest, we cannot really
say he is sick. Mental health does not look at any disease
process in the body tissue. It primarily looks at, are you happy?
Let's ask that question of Jehovah's Witnesses. "Are you, as a
Jehovah's Witness, happy?" Dr. Jerry Bergman's experience from
working with hundreds of Jehovah's Witnesses and congregations
of Jehovah's Witnesses for over 20 years is, they are miserable
people with very few exceptions! They know they are not happy.
But are they going to tell you that? Obviously not. They are not
going to sit down and tell you their problems. Doctors have an
advantage from doing therapy with the Witnesses year by year.
Naturally, when they are coming for help, they are going to tell
what is wrong and what their problems are. That is why they pay
doctors to help them. The patients know they have to be honest
and tell how they feel in order to be helped. Imagine going to
the doctor and the doctor says, "Well, how to do you feel?" The
patient responds, "It is none of your business!" That patient
could not be helped very much. Doctors have found a large number
of Jehovah's Witnesses to be very unhappy people. They are
miserable!
Depression. What are some of the problems the Witnesses have?
All kinds of mental diseases could be listed. Essentially, the
main problems are depression, feeling of helplessness, worry,
doubt, and conflicts in the congregation. The elders try to
enforce extremely rigid rules. For a few years wire-rimmed
glasses were condemned. If a person came into a Kingdom Hall
with wire rims, that individual would have to sit down for a
conference. He would be told, "We notice you are wearing wire
rims. You are falling out of the truth. We are concerned about
this. We think you need help." It becomes absurd after a while.
And as you can imagine, trying to enforce this much rigidity and
this much conformity, creates problems. When one really believes
the Watchtower is God's organization, the elder becomes God's
representative. In a sense, what he says is almost like God
saying it. Therefore, if an elder says a person is immature
because of wearing wire-rimmed glasses, that is like God saying
you are immature because you wear wire-rimmed glasses! This
causes people to feel depressed and to say, "I'm a bad person!
I'm terrible!" And naturally they feel guilt, worry and doubt.
Impressions. Of course, Witnesses try to paint a picture to
outsiders that they are happy people to give a good impression
of the Organization. They want to convey the idea, "We are all
happy. Join the Watchtower Organization." Psychiatrists,
psychologists, researchers and other sources have much to say
about the emotional problems of the Jehovah's Witnesses.
Hundreds of Jehovah's Witnesses were contacted including a
number of high-ranking officials in the Watchtower. The
leadership typically responds, "But we do not know what to do!"
Then they reject solutions. While the Witnesses lack happiness,
they are obligated to pretend as if they have it.
Contradictions. "Well," you might ask, "How do they rationalize
this? How do they go around believing, 'We have the truth. God
is with us. He is using us. And yet we are miserable'?" Some of
the Witnesses conclusions sound rational even though they are
false. First, they believe those inside the Watchtower Society
are God's people. Everybody outside the Watchtower Society is of
Satan. They reason, Satan would try to do everything he can to
be nice to those outside of the Watchtower because he has all of
them. They consider those inside the Watchtower to be Satan's
failures. Therefore, Satan would try to make everyone inside the
Watchtower Society miserable. The Witnesses reason that their
general unhappiness, thinking the people on the outside are
possibly happier, proves they are God's people. If you reason
through the problem with them in this way, they would probably
say, "No, not quite." But in conversation you can see they
really believe it.
On the other hand, they teach the opposite. They teach the only
ones who are truly happy are those within the organization. They
say those outside are miserable because they are not in God's
Organization. The contradiction is somewhat upsetting to the
Witnesses; but they should at least think about it.
Many Jehovah's Witnesses are aware of the serene contentment of
godly Christians. This can cause them some paranoia.
Psychiatrically, the most common mental illness among Jehovah's
Witnesses is known as paranoia schizophrenia. Most studies show
that it is at least four times higher among the Witnesses than
among the non-Witnesses.
One can understand how they would become paranoid. They see
people outside of the Organization who seem to be happy while
the Witnesses are not happy and they know they aren't. When a
Christian talks to them about their error, it often makes sense.
How would you expect the Witnesses to react? Frightened! It is
frightening to people to feel they are wrong. At this point they
can either change their beliefs or they become paranoid or crazy
with mental illness! The Witnesses commonly refuse to
acknowledge any value from what other people have to say.
RAMIFICATIONS OF THE MENTAL ILLNESS PROBLEM
Condemnation. The Witnesses constantly point to the worst in
everyone else. They are the biggest pessimists in town. When
something happens somewhere in what they call "Christendom",
they immediately grab on to that and exaggerate it. Witnesses
constantly talk about food shortages and people being laid off.
They are constantly worried about droughts and earthquakes. When
something like this happens, they all talk about it. What would
you expect from such a negative view of life? People become
depressed. Many times Witnesses go home very depressed after
talking about all these things. It frightens them. Many school
age and preschool Witnesses have nightmares from what they hear.
When parents talk about the tragedies in the world all the time,
how would you expect young people to react? They become very
frightened and very insecure.
Suspicions. In pointing to the worst in everyone else, the
Witnesses have a distorted view of people. They are suspicious
of everyone. They tend to feel everyone else is bad and out to
get them in one way or another. They feel that a large
percentage of non-Witnesses are homosexuals, sexually
promiscuous, thinking only of material things, and are really
the lowest sort of people. How do they respond to others? If you
felt that everyone out there was a homosexual, a murder or a
cheat, you would be pretty careful about associating with those
kind of people. Should you be friendly with them? "You'd better
not! They might be homosexuals!" Jehovah's Witnesses are fearful
of associating with other people.
Alienation. The Witnesses ideas about other people causes them
to isolate themselves. They live in a world of their own. They
live in constant fear of everyone else. How difficult to believe
"My friends at the Kingdom Hall are the good people, and I
wonder about them sometimes. But everyone outside is bad and
trying to get me." Therefore, they really can't enjoy other
people. They really can't help other people. They are afraid
people are going to ensnare them in something, in all kinds of
things. This fear in psychiatric terms of alienation is called
"anomie". A separation is established. Psychiatric problems are
a very significant factor in developing mental illness. If a
person has plenty of friends and can satisfy this need for
company, affiliations, associations and to feel at one with man,
he will go a long ways toward avoiding mental illness.
Isolation. It would help if the Witnesses could satisfy the need
of trust within the congregation. In other words, "O.K.,
everybody out there hates me, and I hate them, but at least if I
have my brothers in the congregation I'll be all right. I'll
have friends." But what happens? What happens when you have a
list of rules that travel without end, condemning incredible
things? For example, calling a bulletin board a "bulletin board"
is taboo. The term is improper because the Roman Catholic church
calls it a bulletin board. Therefore, you have to call it an
"information board". If you slip up one day and call it a
bulletin board, people would look at you and say, "You are
immature. You are not very well grounded. You must be falling
away." What a difficult situation to be in! Then people inside
the congregation go around and condemn each other. They are
suspicious of each other. If a person slips up, they may stay
away from him and avoid any unnecessary association.
In essence the situation is, as a whole the Jehovah's Witnesses
cannot satisfy these needs within the congregation. They cannot
feel at home and as one with those inside the congregation. It's
hard for them to respect each other, because they are constantly
breaking these minor taboos, and occasionally, some of the major
ones. What happens? They feel alone in the world. They feel, "I
am the only one! I am all by myself." That is a very difficult
feeling to live with. This condition is incredibly strong in
developing mental illness. People with a lot of friends do not
tend to develop mental illness. Rather, the people who do not
have many friends are the ones who are quite susceptible. Every
psychiatrist recognizes this law of behavior. You need friends!
It's like the law regarding food. If you do not eat after six
months, what is going to happen? You are going to die! If you do
not have friends, if you live by yourself and isolate yourself
from other people for six months, you'll suffer mentally.
Various scientific terms describe this. A person literally
withers away without friends. The hermit, in contrast, may do
all right because he makes up imaginary friends. He talks to
them and has fun with them. Or animals become his friends. Since
animals do not fully replace people, a hermit tends to act a
little strange after a while. The stereotype is that he will
become mentally ill and talk to himself. But, why would he talk
to himself? He does not really have friends. Isolation is a very
important factor which influences the development of mental
illness among Jehovah's Witnesses.
Expression. Another contributing factor leading to mental
illness is that eventually the Jehovah's Witnesses become afraid
to talk to each other. For example, if you and I were both
Jehovah's Witnesses and I told you all my problems, what may
happen? Consider the problem the Watchtower Society had with
wire-rimmed glasses and colored shirts for a period of time. If
I sat down and told you I secretly wanted to wear these, what
may happen? You may listen and you may understand and try to
help me. But you might not. You might go and tell the elders of
my sins. Then what? My sin, or my contemplated sin, may become a
subject of gossip in the congregation. This commonly happens.
The first, second or third person I confide in may not expose
me, but it will happen. When a Witness confides in another, that
person might listen and seem to try to understand or he may
condemn the individual. Then the problem shared in confidence
becomes the subject of congregational gossip. What happens next?
You would not confide in another Witness again! Then what
happens? Again, isolation!
DETECTION OF THE MENTAL ILLNESS
A person may ask, "Well, how do you know for sure the mental
illness rates are so high among the Jehovah's Witnesses?" What
scientific studies are available to show it is high?"
One study was done by Dr. Spencer. He is an Australian
psychiatrist. He included every admission to several mental
hospitals all over Australia and found the number of those who
were Jehovah's Witnesses. He asked if they were Jehovah's
Witnesses. Quite a few Jehovah's Witnesses would say, "I am
not." They often would not admit on record that they belonged to
the Society. One reason for their denial is that the Society
looks down on psychiatrists. Secondly, Witnesses may be willing
to protect the Organization's reputation even if they are
hurting. In spite of some dishonesty, Dr. Spencer found that
paranoia schizophrenia was four times higher among the Witnesses
than among the population as a whole. He agrees this is probably
an underestimate.
Another psychiatrist, Janner, is Swedish. He did a study on all
those who were imprisoned because of their objection to military
service. This was a good sample of the Jehovah's Witnesses,
because in essence he had access to every male between the ages
of 18 and 26. He psychiatrically examined all of them. Janner
found that of all those held, 85% were Jehovah's Witnesses. He
found the mental illness rate was about 40 times higher among
the Witnesses than among the population as a whole. Statistics
taken at face value are simply estimates. Probably a few
Witnesses acted insane in order to go on hospital status which
was a better atmosphere. Others who were rated as insane were
only trying to act insane. Others, because of the trauma of
being in prison, actually were insane. However, they may have
behaved somewhat normally in their life outside. The estimate is
probably high; but it does say the percentage of the mental
illness rate is much higher among the Witnesses than among the
population as a whole.
A study by Precore in 1949 was an examination of all Jehovah's
Witnesses imprisoned because of their objection to the selective
service law. He found, 16% were in the hospital for one reason
or another. Of these 16%, 44% were diagnosed as psychotic. 50%
had medical problems as blindness, deafness, or some other
problem. In other words, Precore found that 8% of the total
Jehovah's Witnesses diagnosed were psychotic. Psychotic means
you are legally insane. 8% means the mental illness rate,
according to the study, is again about 40 times higher among
Jehovah's Witnesses than among the population as a whole.
Another study was by Rylinder. He examined Jehovah's Witnesses
in prison because of their conscientious objection. He found
that the mental illness rate was 32 times higher than the rest
of the population.
We are aware of no study where the mental illness rate is the
same or lower for Jehovah's Witnesses. The research says, it is
much higher.
Documentation. An expansion on these studies and further
information is available in Dr. Bergman's book. You may obtain
your copy from: Witness Inc., P.O. Box 597, Clayton, CA 94517.
(A complete catalog of materials is available upon request.) The
Mental Health of Jehovah's Witnesses, order #787, costs $9.95.
Add 10% for postage and handling in the U.S.A., 20% for other
countries, 8% sales tax for California residents.
IDENTIFICATION OF THE REASONS FOR THE MENTAL ILLNESS
Dereliction. Why is the mental illness rate high among the
Witnesses? One common reason is, even though the Jehovah's
Witnesses are dedicated to the Watchtower Society, the
Watchtower doesn't seem to be very dedicated to Jehovah's
Witnesses. They seem to be very callused. Dr. Jerry Bergman
worked at the clinic at one of the Watchtower assemblies. One of
the Witnesses working with Jerry was a medical doctor. He
related to Jerry that at a previous assembly three infants died
of sunstroke. Younger children can very easily dehydrate and die
in the sun. The doctors thought they would go to the
administration and ask them to just make an announcement,
"Mothers, be careful! It's hot out here. 90 degrees. Don't put
your infants in the sun and leave them there for two hours."
They refused. They said, "We can't spend precious microphone
time with personal announcements." Both of the doctors later
left the Society and found a real relationship with Jesus Christ.
There are so many complaints about the Society. If a Witness
writes the headquarters a 10 page letter, he may receive a brief
response in 6 months, "We've received your letter. Thank you."
The Society often publishes something that may seem valid and
logical to them, but their conclusions are way off. Way off! So
they have to change again in few months. Some Witnesses have
spent years doing research, even typing sixty pages of their
study and the Society said, "Thank you. We have received your
letter. When we get time we will look at it." They do not
acknowledge the observations or the value of the report. If the
study is wrong they should say, "It is wrong." They sometimes
do, but they usually don't. How would you feel after doing a lot
of research and trying to be helpful? After this happened to one
Witness, he sent another letter saying, "Dear Brothers, if you
were a baker and discovered there was poison in your bread,
would you say, 'Well, we'll take it out when we have time'?" In
other words, "I think I have found some poison in the teaching.
If it is poison, you should take it out. Now! If it's not poison
you should let me know so I can take it out of me. But let me
know!" Again, they were too busy. That's upsetting! One could
cite dozens of examples where the Watchtower was not at all
responsive to the needs of the Witnesses.
At the Brooklyn headquarters a teenager was working on an
elevator and fell down the shaft. Why didn't the Watchtower have
someone working on it who knew what he was doing? Another was
working on a press and lost his arm. They sent him home with
nothing! "You can't work here anymore. You can't run a press
with one hand." There are similar incidents.
Preoccupation. The Witnesses express a constant concern over the
picky stuff. The white shirts were an issue for about 4 years.
The wire-rimmed glasses were an issue for about a year. Hair is
a perpetual issue. It is said the Witnesses talk about dress
more than anything else. The talk is mostly critical of what
other people are wearing. They are very preoccupied with this,
partially because they are overly concerned with the image they
are trying to present. Much is spent on the proper attire to
make each one a clone.
Intimidation. Another problem stems from the continual stream of
articles in their publications which present ideas that are
completely foolish. For example, one idea originating from one
of their leaders, Schroeder, is that one's feelings, attitudes,
likes and dislikes are not from the "mind" but from the "heart".
They believe when Scripture says the heart reads a man, the
heart is physical. They should know the Greek word actually
means the seat of the emotions. The Watchtower taught the
literal heart is what makes you think! "You do not think in your
brain. You just store things away in your brain. The heart does
your thinking." They asked at an assembly some years ago, "Now
is this a pump? No. It is not a pump. This is where feelings,
ideas and spirituality emanates." A clear problem arises from
their supposition. Surgeons have taken the physical heart out of
the body and replaced it with a plastic heart or another
person's heart. The Watchtower taught the heart is the place of
feelings and if you took it out and replaced it with a plastic
heart, you would not have any feelings. But what happens when a
physical heart is replaced with a steel pump? The person thinks,
acts and feels the same way. His feelings don't change. For a
while the Witnesses taught if you received the heart of a
criminal in a heart transplant, you would be a criminal. You
would take on that person's personality. There is just no
evidence for their preposterous idea. It's foolishness!
Witnesses talked about this for two years. They have not brought
it up for several years now as far as I know. Someone must have
let them know the whole idea is just totally wrong, totally
fallacious. You can't be saying things like that without loosing
more credibility. That "new light" was not very bright! They
apparently have not come out to admit their heart idea was
wrong, unless it was just recently, but they may have to
sometime.
Associations. The social problems among the Witnesses is
critical. They have a clichi among themselves. "When you move
into a new congregation, you love everyone, at first. But after
six months you find out everyone's faults and they find out your
faults." Then the Witnesses don't like each other anymore.
A religion that stresses works for salvation inspects their
people. They have said, "If you have long hair you won't survive
Armageddon. You will be destroyed forever." So naturally, they
are very concerned about outward appearances. To wear wire-
rimmed glasses meant for a time a person was obviously lost. As
a result, "I'd better not associate with you. Your badness may
contaminate me, causing me to be lost. So, I have to be leery
about you." Speakers at the assemblies say, "Remember, not all
those on the inside are really Jehovah's Witnesses." Witnesses
look around and think, "Maybe he is not really a Jehovah's
Witness." They do not really trust all the others. The Witnesses
are constantly suspicious of anyone who is different. If a
person is different in some why, he is going to be singled out
as, "Well, maybe he is not quite a Christian. Maybe he is not a
good Jehovah's Witness."
Education. The Witnesses put down differences among them. This
includes both higher education and lower education. They are
very suspicious of college graduates. Not many are among them.
They are also very suspicious of people with very low levels of
education. There is pressure for everyone to have a high school
diploma, no more, no less. They are rigid on that. Although if
you only have a grade 10 education the pressure usually is not
so great. A doctors degree is very hard for them to deal with.
Anyone with education is a threat to them. They are preoccupied
with humbling people, especially those who are well known and
those who have good jobs. What does the humbling amount to?
Putting you down! They constantly put down wealth from the
platform. In essence they are saying, "If you are wealthy you
must not be a Christian. You must be bad, or you are likely
bad." The same holds true with education or prominent jobs. What
happens under this constant degradation when people happen to be
Witnesses and happen to be wealthy? They are going to have a
hard time. They are susceptible to an inferiority complex. This
is exactly what happens to those who are different.
Promotions. Jehovah's Witnesses are constantly striving for
status within the congregation. They cannot have much status
outside the congregation. Working toward promotions is wrong.
They cannot get a good job that may take away from Kingdom Hall
responsibility, that's wrong. They can't do well in sports,
that's wrong. They can't perform in front of an audience, that's
wrong. "You are exalting yourself." You can't do well as an
artist, that's wrong. "You are exalting your own works." They
are constantly criticizing whatever things people do to be<
liked and to be respected. The Witnesses tend to think the only
ones who can earn recognition is the Watchtower Society. All
glory should go to the Watchtower Society and Jehovah. A lot of
Witnesses give up their careers. One Witness had the opportunity
of going to the Olympics and they convinced him not to. "Oh, you
are bringing glory to yourself and the nation." What happens to
these people? They become frustrated. They have no place to say,
"Look what I accomplished."
The exception to the restricted personal promotions is within
the Kingdom Hall congregation. As a result there is a conflict
for status and a power struggle. The men jockey for the position
of "elder". The Witnesses respect that term. They do not just
say, "An elder." They say, "He is, an, ELDER!" A lot of prestige
goes with the office. Men constantly suggest, "Well, I know
Brother Jones does not study his Watchtower every week. I do not
think he would be qualified as an elder. I! I study my
Watchtower every week. So, brothers, I would appreciate you
taking that into consideration when the appointment for ELDERS
is made." Men constantly talk this way. Then when a person
becomes an elder others try to shoot him down. If there are 20
elders, one doesn't have much status. If there are only three he
has more status. So, "I am an elder. These 19 other men are
elders. If I can remove them, I am more important." A similar
scenario happens with the "Pioneers". Constantly, people tell
their own status. "I am a PIONEER!" And you know within 10
minutes who are the pioneers. They walk by and say, "Hi. I am
sister Jones. I am a pioneer!" The Watchtower Society is aware
of this effort for recognition, so they say, "Now, brothers and
sisters, if you are an elder or a pioneer, you are just a
servant." They tend to put down leaders. Yet, the Witnesses know
the status of these people within the congregation is respected,
so they still strive for positions.