So I have a therapist. I am going for anxiety. He gave me a list of "Cognitive Distortions" that lead to general and social anxiety. I don't blame the church for my anxiety but it probably contributed.

"4. Emotional Reasoning: You think something must be true because you "feel" (actually believe) is so strongly, ignoring or discounting evidence to the contrary."

I think this pretty much sums up the whole idea of the lds cult and probably cults in general. Though lds are not afraid to admit it.

Why is this? Lds psychiatrists have had to have seen this, they must teach it at YBU. Does this lead to a general higher anxiety level of members?

Additional thoughts????

Point 4 is pretty good. To it I might add- You think something must be true because to not believe it is a mortal sin.

Added to that is the belief that the whole world is watching you and judging the whole church by your actions.

And you must also believe that if you are not perfect and doing everything possible, you might lose your eternal family.

Yeah, I think the church does cause anxiety for many reasons, all stemming from "beliefs" that cause members to worry about:

- Not paying enough tithe
- Not doing a satisfactory job with all their callings
- Not doing anything the chruch forbids
_ The end of the world always being soon, these being "the last days" and constantly preparing for it by hoarding and rotating food and supplies (aka, "preparedness").
- Saving for your kids' mission
- Feeling guilty about everything you do, and being psyched out enough to think you have to "confess" it all to some guy in a suit behind a desk.

Come on, how are you supposed to live a happy life and dream of a future you want to build, when you're constantly being fed all the above crap?? That's why I left the chruch, because I had depression and anxiety problems. I came back to the chruch after 15 years of being inactive because I thought getting close to god would help... But it just made the problem worse with all the above!

Maybe getitng closer to god can help. But NOT the LDS way. I think you just gotta do it yourself.

Another way Mormonism built anxiety for me was many of the teachings and expectations conflicted with my own observations with how life actually works and I often felt torn by my simultaneous desire to believe what I was being told and what I was seeing for myself. For years I invalidated my own thoughts, feelings, and perceptions and that caused me profound depression and anxiety. When I began to give weight to my own thoughts and feelings and allowed myself to test them out, I began to feel better.

I was talking with my therapist today about the experience of "erasing" myself as a Mormon--it's still a deeply emotional topic for me and it has been more than 20 years since I left Mormonism. (Unfortunately, I brought it up the last 10 minutes of the session--pretty typical for people to do and I know better.) I've been thinking about feeling "erased" off and on all day. Anyway, as you get grounded in what is good and true for you and feel better able to act on it, I think your anxiety will decrease.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/18/2010 02:01AM by robertb.

Yes. It did in my case. DW says I'm a lot happier the couple of weeks. She doesn't know it's because I don't believe in the LDS fairy tale any more. Also, my love for her has increased now that I'm not too sure we'll be reunited in the next life. I need to show her greater love now and stop worrying about my "worlds (and women) without numbers".