I Ran A Survey On Mental Health In Ex-Jehovah's Witnesses

The results didn't shock me.

This post contains mentions of self-harm and suicide. Please think carefully before reading if you're feeling vulnerable.

While I was a counselling student, my class were given an assignment. Each student had to give a presentation on a topic relevant to counselling or wellbeing on which they had a special interest. Seeing the chance to teach my peers how to respond if an ex-Jehovah's Witness ever entered their room, I dived into research.

I began with a basic survey. I posted a link in some UK-based ex-Jehovah's Witness support groups on Facebook. 70 people responded. This might not seem like many, but large scale studies on the wellbeing of ex-Jehovah's Witnesses simply don't exist and this felt like a good start.

The data isn't perfect. The support groups by their very nature would be over-representing ex-Jehovah's Witnesses who were struggling. Those who walked away feeling okay were unlikely to be responding. However, the data still gave a valuable snapshot into how people adapt after leaving the Jehovah's Witnesses.

When it came to shunning, around 80% reported being shunned by at least one family member. 7% reported being shunned by at least half of their family, 31% reported being shunned by the majority of their family, and 25% reported losing their entire Jehovah's Witness family. I have started with this figure because it offers a lens through which to make sense of the following statistics.

When asked about depression and anxiety during their times as a Jehovah's Witness, the statistics barely moved. Around 70% experienced depression and 80% experienced anxiety both during and after their times as a Jehovah's Witness. This demonstrates how leaving the Jehovah's Witnesses is not a magic wand. The impact of their conditioning as well as losing their community meant that respondents did not "bounce back" after leaving.

Self-harm rates dropped 54% after leaving the Jehovah's Witnesses. 37% of respondents struggled with it during their time as a Jehovah's Witness, but 17% of them reported it after leaving. The optimist in us might see that as a good thing, but there is a possibility they just engaged in different coping mechanisms. The rate of addiction increased by 140% from 10% to 24% upon leaving. (If you are reading this as a therapist, I would recommend familiarising yourself with secular recovery models to avoid replicating harmful language and structure.)

Overall, only one person reported being freed of any of these issues after leaving. Even on a small scale, it paints a clear picture of people still carrying their struggles after they have left the organisation. The harm didn't end when their commitment did.

Suicidal ideation was one area where things did improve once the respondent left the religion. Reports of suicidal ideation dropped 11% on leaving. 62% of respondents experienced it during their time as a Jehovah's Witness, and 51% reported it after leaving. Any decrease is encouraging from a statistical point of view, but the stark reality is that half of the respondents considered ending their lives after leaving the Jehovah's Witnesses. That number is still too high.

Which brings me neatly into my next point. Therapy and the ex-Jehovah's Witness. 70% of respondents were discouraged from "worldly" (non-JW) therapy during their time in the religion. The significant majority of people leave the gate already jaded in their view of therapists and therapy.

After leaving, 37% reported accessing counselling and feeling understood. 30% accessed counselling and did not feel understood, and 9% avoided therapy altogether because they anticipated being misunderstood. There were more respondents having, or anticipating, a negative experience of therapy than found it helpful.

I can only speculate on the reasons for this, but it is educated speculation.

How many therapists understand the difference between cult dynamics and normal relational problems? How much of a session is spent trying to explain occasions such as the memorial or the district assembly in a way the therapist can comprehend? How much labour do clients expend educating their counsellor on their experiences, terminology, and dynamics?

As an anecdotal example, my sister's therapist 25 years ago recommended she go back and "pretend to believe" when she was mourning the loss of family and community. In this instance, my sister felt that her therapist failed to understand the lived experiences of being an active Jehovah's Witness. The therapeutic space was not a safe one. It was compounding the issue and painting her type of participation as the issue - not the organisation itself.

I see two solutions to this problem. The first is increasing the amount of former Jehovah's Witnesses who are practising counsellors. The second is in counsellor education. There are, of course, multiple academic resources out there to help practitioners understand the mechanisms and impact of high control organisations. But these have limited potential as their application is so broad. The most useful thing, in my opinion, is learning directly from the community about their experiences. Reddit has a thriving community full of resources and people offering the emotional labour of sharing their experiences. There are also activists, websites, and other resources where people have dedicated a great deal of emotional labour into educating others.

I will end with one final thought: leaving the Jehovah’s Witnesses does not automatically end the harm. Many former members continue to carry grief, fear, isolation and deeply embedded conditioning long after they have walked away. They deserve therapeutic spaces in which they do not have to translate, justify or minimise their experiences before healing can begin. It is not enough for support to exist; it must also be informed, accessible and capable of truly understanding them.