Mental Health Challenges of Jehovah's Witnesses

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00;00;20;07 - 00;01;00;13
Speaker 1
The patient was diagnosed by a psychiatrist as a paranoid schizophrenic after ten years, he was pronounced incurable and was able to stay out of the mental institution only by taking three pills every day. And then one of Jehovah's Witnesses calling from house to house managed to start a Bible study with him. After eight months, the man needed no more pills, and four months later he was pronounced fully cured.

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Then there was the woman in Michigan who for many years had received regular psychotherapy shock treatments and had spent $5,000 on drug treatment. Yet she still kept threatening suicide. After studying the Bible with Jehovah's Witnesses, she was able to discontinue taking drugs as well as quit smoking. She found her psychiatrist to tell him that now she felt better than she had ever felt before, and what accounted for it?
He replied that he wished all of his patients could find a cure like that.

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The two experiences that you just heard, they came from the April 22nd, 1975, a week magazine. These types of articles form the foundation and the basis for the type of culture that exists among Jehovah's Witnesses. For decades, and that is people who are struggling with mental health issues. It is because you are spiritually weak. And so by citing examples of someone who had an incurable situation in their life with schizophrenia, that by reading our magazines they were cured.

These types of articles were used by elders, circuit overseers and speakers all around the world to tell the Jehovah's Witnesses just read our magazines and your problems will be fixed.

00;02;38;28 - 00;03;07;19

Hi, this is Lady Cee. Welcome to the critical thought. In the upcoming episode, we're going to be talking about Jehovah's Witnesses and mental health awareness. In fact, we have a series of videos that we're going to be covering under this umbrella, talking about mental health awareness, because a lot of people, they may be experiencing these issues in their lives, but they don't realize it.

And we also teamed up with a mental health professional who is going to weigh in on this matter.

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There is still a stigma when it comes to mental health. Individuals perceive mental health as, you know, that something is wrong with me. You know, I'm flawed. Know there's a deficit. I think we are addressing that stigma by taking more of a strength based approach to addressing mental health. Not what's wrong with you, but what's right about you.

Maybe. Maybe we've forgotten what was right about me. Through whatever circumstances.
Of situations that.
I've I've gone into in my life. In the mind is interesting. We can get so focused on that algorithm of negativity, too, where we only see what we believe and then.

00;04;11;07 - 00;04;23;06

Hi, I'm Daniel. I am JT and the purpose of this video is to speak to you about how the Watchtower creates mental health issues for its members. Okay, JT, let's start.

00;04;23;09 - 00;04;32;11
Speaker 2
Yeah, that is something that you will find in this religion is the mental health concerns that people will end up finding themselves dealing with.

00;04;33;00 - 00;04;52;06
Speaker 3
Mm hmm. Well, a few weeks ago, we released a video, and we made the point that the Watchtower, the governing body, the witnesses and the society as a whole basically were the modern day Pharisees, but they were the modern day Pharisees because they were creating manmade mandates. Do you remember.

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