Why Jehovah's Witnesses Have Mental Problems.pdf

Why Jehovah's Witnesses Have

Mental Problems

Jerry Bergman, Ph.D

ABSTRACT

A scientific literature review found that the rate of mental illness

among Jehovah's Witnesses is considerably above average. The

specific level found in the research varies partly because the extant

research was on different populations and time periods. The major

factors identified as either helpful or harmful to Witness mental

health were discussed. Although persons with emotional problems

tended to join the Witnesses, the Watchtower teachings and its

subculture clearly adversely affected the mental health of those

involved. The official Watchtower attitude on mental illness was

also examined as were the common beliefs about the problem

among Witnesses.

The History Of The Watchtower Reveals the Sources of Mental Problems

Jehovah's Witnesses were organized in the late 1800's by Charles Taze Russell, a

second Adventist disappointed in the failed prophecies of his fellow religionists. He

soon reinterpreted these prophesies and set his own new dates. He first taught the

time of the end started in 1798 (latter changed to 1799), that Christ had returned

invisibly in 1878 (latter changed to 1874), and that a new world wherein the

righteous would dwell forever on a paradise Earth would begin in 1914. [1] With his

father's fortune, Russell preached tirelessly, yet when he died only a small band of

followers existed as a result of all his efforts.

The second president, a lawyer named Rutherford, used his law background to create

one confrontation after another with the state and almost everyone else including

business, medicine and even religion. Soon Jehovah's Witnesses became infamous

throughout the world for their legal clashes which often involved violence. [2] A

fighter with no small legal skills, Rutherford recruited several other attorneys and the

Watchtower soon had themselves positioned as martyrs. The small band of devoted--

some would say fanatical--followers, they achieved something that no amount of

money could buy: name recognition, and, at least in the legal profession, an

admiration for their legal success and tenacity.

The third president, N.H. Knorr, ruled from the 1950s to the 1970s. He toned down

their behavior and worked tirelessly to modify their public image from fanatics to

quiet, determined Christians fearlessly going about their work preaching the good

news of the Watchtower's kingdom. Pushing numerical growth to the exclusion of

almost everything else including the health of individual Witnesses, his policies paid

off. Except for the 1975 fiasco, growth has usually been steady. 1975 was their third

recent major prediction for Armageddon, the other two were 1914 and 1925 which

caused upward of one million people to eventually leave the sect. [3] They have

carefully cultivated a public image of a God fearing devoted people, determined to

ferret out God's truth from the scriptures and live their lives fully according to them.

Behind this facade lies a nightmare which resulted in a rash of mental illness and

social problems considerably higher than that found in virtually every American

religion. The reasons for the Watchtower tragedy are complex and can only briefly be

explored in this short review.

The Scientific Research

Especially since the 1975 date (which was predicted to usher in God's kingdom on

earth) failed, the numerous problems in the Watchtower congregations have received

much mass media and scholarly attention. Most intensively studied problems include

disfellowshipping, doctrinal disputes, and their recurring prophetic speculation

failures. [4] Witness mental health issues have also been examined by many

investigators. [5]

The writer, as a former Witness for over twenty years, was extensively involved in

various administrative levels of the organization. This gave him first hand access to

information relating to most social and bureaucratic aspects of the Watchtower. He

has also used his decade of extensive clinical experience with Witnesses and an

extensive literature review as a basis for his evaluation. Outsiders have limited access

to inside information, and for this reason are forced to rely on official publications, all

of which are viewed by Witnesses as quasi-inspired. [6] The literature reveals eight

academic studies which explored the problem of Witness mental illness. These will be

briefly reviewed by year, the oldest first.

The Rylander Study

Swedish psychiatrist Dr. Rylander investigated a sample of conscientious objectors

imprisoned in Sweden. Of the 135 randomly selected cases, fully 126 were Witnesses.

Of these 126, Rylander diagnosed 51 as neurotic, 42 psychotic, 32 as mentally

retarded, and 5 as brain-damaged (some overlap exists because some cases were in

two or more categories). [7] Diagnosis was made solely on the basis of behavior that

was clearly pathological, such as irrational paranoia or severe long term depression,

and not behavior that resulted from following Watchtower doctrine as non-social

involvement with the non-Witnesses. Rylander also concluded from the subjects'

medical records and his interviews that their pathological state was not uncommonly

evident before conversion, but that the Watchtower's' influence was often detrimental

to mental health, sometimes severely so.

About four percent of the eligible armed service Swedish population were judged

psychologically "unfit" for military services. The corresponding figure for Witnesses

was twenty-one percent, or a rate five times greater. This was very close to the same

ratio found by Spencer [8] whose diagnosis of "psychotic" or "neurotic" was made on

the basis of mental hospital admission screening. Few of the cases in Rylander's study

were marginal Witnesses, and most were actively involved in the Watchtower.

Rylander concluded that many of those he studied lacked an education, job skills,

emotional stability, and quality social relations. Unsatisfactory employment records

often existed because of psychological deficiencies, lack of ability or immaturity.

Rylander found that Witnesses committed "...a relatively large number of small

crimes and other misdemeanors which generally resulted only in a fine...three

[Witnesses] have been imprisoned for stealing or harboring of stolen property, and 36

have been fined for various offenses (traffic violations, drunkenness, unlawful selling

of alcohol, poaching, unlawful entering, etc.)" [9]

Neurotic symptoms commonly found in his sample included "feelings of discomfort,

general anxiety, poor sleep habits, times of brooding over what they see as the

meaninglessness of life, the wrongs they have suffered and the mistakes they have

made." [10] Rylander noted that the Watchtower doctrine helped some adherents to

explain "all of their problems in life, and has given them a satisfaction and calmness

which has brought a measure of stability to their lives." [11]

He also concluded that individual Witnesses tended to be burdened with a variety of

serious concerns and often joined the sect in an effort to solve their many problems.

Although the results of this study are not fully applicable to today's situation, many of

his conclusions are still largely true. [12] A major difference between his sample and

today is that the Witnesses are now more middle-class and less socially rejected.

Many Witnesses, though, especially those living in developing nations, still

experience many of the same problems that Rylander reported.

The First American Study

Pescor, in the first study on American Witness mental health, diagnosed as psychotic

over seven percent of his total sample (n=177) of young males imprisoned due to

obeying the Watchtower's prohibition against complying with military regulations. [13]

The sample was obtained by interviewing all selective service violators admitted to

the Federal prison medical center during the study. The level of Witness psychosis in

his sample was about seventeen times higher than that for the population as a whole.

A whopping seven percent were diagnosed psychotic, four percent had other mental

abnormalities and fully one quarter were rated socially maladjusted. Sixteen percent

of Pescor's sample were on hospital status and forty-four percent of these were

diagnosed psychotic.

The demographic characteristics of the Witnesses in the study were as follows:

almost half were raised on farms and only thirty-nine percent grew-up in cities of

5,000 or more. About half had some high school education (the median grade

achieved was 9.2), and the majority were engaged in agricultural work. The

discrepancy between socioeconomic status and I.Q. (the median I.Q. was 101.5) was

partly a result of the Watchtower's discouragement of occupational advancement

coupled with their stress on the regular study of Watchtower publications, a practice

which serves to develop verbal and reading skills.

Only two percent were judged to have poor work performance and over forty percent

took advantage of educational opportunities, mostly correspondence courses offered

by the institution. Spanish was the most popular class pursued, presumably so the

Witness could serve as a Watchtower missionary when released.

The Janner Study

Swiss psychiatrist Janner (1963), examined a random sample of 100 Swiss citizens

who were imprisoned because of objection to military service, about eighty-five

percent were Jehovah's Witnesses. [14] The study found a significant number of

Witnesses showed one or more of the following symptoms: high level of fear anxiety,

severe neuroticism, introversion and/or social isolation tendencies. Janner [15]

concluded that the Witnesses were generally "somewhat removed from reality,

although some demonstrated intense religious feeling." As found in other studies, the

majority of the Witnesses in his sample were unskilled or semi-skilled workers.

His research revealed a whopping 10.4 percent of the Witnesses had previous

criminal convictions, about half of which were for sexual offenses, mostly pedophilia

and exhibitionism. The rest of the criminal connections were for minor property or

person offenses. He did not compare the mental illness rate of Jehovah's Witnesses to

the population as a whole, but concluded that the rate among Witnesses was far

higher than the rate among non-Witnesses. The Watchtower influence was often not

positive, and there was no evidence that it had in the long run helped those who had

emotional problems when they joined. Evidence was found, though, that the

Watchtower had an adverse effect on many regardless of their adjustment level when

they became involved.

Spencer's Research

Spencer, an Australian psychiatrist, examined the records of all admissions to

Western Australia psychiatric hospitals from January, 1971 to December, 1973. [16]

He located fifty cases that, according to the patients' own admission, were active

Jehovah's Witnesses. Spencer concluded that the rate of serious mental illness among

this group was three times higher than that of non-Witnesses, and the diagnosis of

paranoid schizophrenia was fully four times higher. A reason that Spencer's statistics

are probably low is that Witnesses are prone to avoid psychiatric treatment and,

especially, institutionalization. [17] The Watchtower, like many cultic movements, is

very critical of both the mental health profession and most non-medical professional

therapy. [18] The official Witness teaching is that the decision to visit a psychiatrist is

up to one's conscience, but the undertone in most of their literature is strongly

opposed to all types of professional mental health help. [19] The typical Witness

believes that it is either very foolish or blatantly wrong to rely on the advice of a

secular mental health therapist. [20]

Other Research Studies

Licensed therapist Montague monitored the admissions to state and private mental

hospitals, and local mental health clinics in Ohio from 1972 to 1986. [21] From this

data (n=102) he estimated that "The mental illness rate of JW's is approximately 10 to

16 times higher than the rate for the general, nonWitness population [and

that]...about 10% of the publishers (full members) in the average congregation are in

serious need of professional help...[although they are often] able to hide this fact

quite well, especially from outsiders." [22] From his intensive interviews with Witness

patients and others, Montague concluded that persons who had emotional problems

were attracted to the Witnesses but Watchtower involvement also caused many of the

emotional problems that they suffered. This is evident from the fact that many with

problems reported they were far happier after they left.

Another study was completed by Potter [23] as part of his Ph.D. thesis on religion and

mental health. He concluded that there exists "a strong positive correlation between

Witness membership and clinical schizophrenia." In yet another Ph.D. dissertation,

Sack evaluated the effect of religion on the mental health of select clients. [24]

Although the case study method was utilized, many of the same conclusions were

reached as found in the above studies, and in many ways her research compliments

the present study. The clients she utilized had an enormous amount of insight into the

pathological processes of the Watchtower and similar sects, and her study is well

worth reading.

In addition, a German study by Elmer Koppl [25] also came to similar conclusions as

did a study by Norwegian psychologist, Kjell Totland [26] Using Oakland County court

records from 1965 to 1973, Bergman concluded that not only is the mental illness

rate above average, but the suicide and crime rates are also high, especially

aggressive crimes against persons [27] This is the extent of published empirical

studies about the mental health of Jehovah's Witnesses, an area in which a need

exists for more research.

The Validity Of These Studies

The above studies may have under reported the level of Witness mental illness

because of sampling problems. A major flaw with the military research studies is that

many seriously psychotic Witnesses would have a history of hospitalization, and thus

would likely have had a medical deferment. In the States, only those who have passed

the required physical would be imprisoned because of refusing to obey the selective

service law. If these cases were included, the rate would be higher than that which

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