Journal of Religion and Health, 61(3): 2458-2480 (online 19 Jan 2021; issue June 2022), “Grieving the Living: The Social Death of Former Jehovah’s Witnesses”
“Narratives suggest that experiences of ostracism following religious exit can be associated with diminished mental health, while having a sense of agency and establishing new (online) social connections may help mitigate adverse consequences.”
Six former JWs in the UK (aged 25 to 60s; disfellowshipped or disassociated), semi-structured interviews analysed with interpretative phenomenological analysis. Results: 'the sudden loss of contact with loved [ones] was akin to grieving their living friends and family'; one participant reported two suicide attempts, another self-destructive behaviour, and a third described her son’s suicide after he was disfellowshipped and one a son's suicide after disfellowshipping; 'the indication is that being disfellowshipped may potentially have serious implications to physical and mental health'.
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Provenance and verification note for Journal of Religion and Health, 61(3): 2458-2480 (online 19 Jan 2021; issue June 2022), Grieving the Living: The Social Death of Former Jehovah’s Witnesses
Confidence note. Open-access PDF (Deutsche Nationalbibliothek copy, https://d-nb.info/1230971017/34) downloaded and read; citation verified against Crossref and Semantic Scholar; Edge Hill repository record opened.
Scan provenance. Deutsche Nationalbibliothek open-access deposit; © The Author(s) 2021, CC BY.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID. src-ransom-2021-grieving-the-living