Munchausen syndrome by proxy is a form of mental illness and child abuse whereby a caretaker may make a child think that they are sick or may cause real symptoms in a child to make them sick. The caretaker gets attention through their sick children. In this episode we meet Israel and his caretakers that get attention by making him feel like he is wrong and needs to do what they want him to do in order to be well, resulting in attention for those that are pushing him to believe he must overcome his spiritual sickness by doing things that shine positive attention on them.
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This podcast was made possible by my original podcast This JW Life. You can find it on any podcast app. It is a 9 part series about life as Jehovah’s Witnesses designed to help you understand how it worked in one comprehensive story and to help you process your own if you came from that environment.
Music provided by Jane and the Boy, entitled Save Myself.
Hello Israel
Just finished your episode.
I understand your trepidation on raising your sons outside the cult.
We had to make that same decision almost 20 years ago. It was the best decision my wife and I could have made.
Was it perfect, nope.
Of course some of those issues that parents like to pretend won’t happen- happened.
We took them 1 at a time when they came up. Best part was, judgement and fear on our daughters part wasn’t part of the equation. They knew we were loving and supportive no matter what happened. No double life, open communication, and that my friend is the key to success and happiness with your children.
Watching children become whoever they want to become, is a reward into itself. Best of luck. Thank you for sharing your story.
Hey, appreciate the feedback and it’s great to hear it turned out great for your family. Long ways to for us and still not sure how things are going to workout since we are still a split house, but always nice to hear stories of families and parents that broke free together.