Over time, people who are deemed to be redeemable who were not killed in the apocalypse will be resurrected to be taught the ways of the JW (Ringnes et al., 2019). Active JW will be rewarded after this genocide with a renewed earth with paradisiac conditions. This end will involve the deaths of all those not actively worshipping the God figure of the JW. JW construe this prophecy and others within the Bible to mean that the end of this world is to come in the very near future (Watch Tower, 2021b). JW interpret predictions in the book of Revelation as meaning that the governments and religions of the world will topple and Armageddon will arrive (Watchtower, 2015a). JW believe in the ultimate authority of the Bible, spreading their beliefs through evangelism and remaining separate from the world around them as God’s only true religion (Watch Tower and Tract Society of Pennsylvania, 1980).Īccording to the official JW website, jw.org, JW view the Bible as the inspired word of God (Watch Tower and Tract Society of Pennsylvania, 2021b). JW subscribe to a framework of fundamentalism, with strict obedience to doctrine required of all members. However, studies examining member counts have found that the number of people identifying as JW to be 17.5 million (Lawson & Xydias, 2020). The Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society-the legal entity of JW-reports over 8 million members worldwide in 240 countries (Watch Tower and Tract Society of Pennsylvania, 2021a). JW is a Christian fundamentalist religion based out of Wallkill, New York. This paper focuses on the adjustment period directly after a person leaves JW and examines the connections between JW beliefs and the negative mental health outcomes of excommunicated members. However, there are gaps in the research, especially regarding the exit point of former members. Current research also examines the nature and type of pathological behavior by former members as well as the reasons many remain in this ‘high control’ organization despite the toll on their mental health. Existing research examines the quotidian life of members or focuses on the contrast between life ‘inside’ this very insular organization and life after ‘adjustment’ to the outer world.

Based on these cases, JW beliefs may be internalized and have the potential to have a strong influence on the mental health of former members, even long after they leave the congregation. These beliefs have been cited as one underlying reason for the Keego Harbor familicide as well as additional cases of suicide among former members (JW Survey, 2014). Members who sin in the eyes of their congregation are shunned as well (Pietkiewicz, 2014). Members who choose to leave the religion due to moral or doctrinal objections are shunned by the community. The current version of the religion holds that a worldwide Armageddon will occur in the very near future and that any nonbelievers alive at that time will be killed in an act of godly retribution. JW is a Christian sect that began in the United States in the late 1800s.

The Miller family from South Carolina, the Longo family from Michigan, and the Bryant family from Oregon were all JW members who were subjected to this tragedy (Frazier, 2003 Golgowski, 2019). This is not the only case of former JW members committing familicide. She left notes and messages detailing the pain shunning had caused her and the belief systems that had influenced her actions (Wright, 2019). In 2018, she shot and killed her husband, three children, and herself in Keego Harbor, Michigan (Boroff, 2018). After leaving Jehovah’s Witnesses (JW) to enroll her sons in college, she was shunned by family and friends alike. Lauren Stuart was a model, a mother, and a wife. The culture of informing on other members inside the Jehovah’s Witnesses also leads to a continued sense of distrust and suspicion long after leaving. Feelings of loneliness, loss of control, and worthlessness are also common after leaving. Problems are amplified in female former members due to heavy themes of sexism and patriarchal narratives pervasive in Jehovah’s Witnesses culture. Results suggest shunning has a long-term, detrimental effect on mental health, job possibilities, and life satisfaction.

Transcripts were analyzed with interpretative phenomenological analysis for narrative themes pertaining to their life after exclusion from their former faith using the context of Jehovah’s Witnesses culture. To investigate the effects of shunning, interviews with 10 former Jehovah’s Witnesses, ranging in age from 20 to 44 years old, were conducted six male, six White, one Native American, one Black, and two Latinx. Members of Jehovah’s Witnesses are subject to shunning when they do not comply with the stated doctrine or belief system. Shunning and ostracism have severe impacts on individuals’ psychological and social well-being.

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