Volume 4, 2022

IJCAM

“You’re going to go into some really dark, dark places in your mind.” Loss and disillusionment of being shunned from the Jehovah’s witnesses community and its impact

, United Kingdom United Kingdom
Published Date
August 23, 2023
Issue
DOI
10.54208/1000/0004/005

Abstract

Being shunned from a tight-knit religious community, such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses, may be a traumatic event. The accounts of twenty-one participants, qualitatively analysed using Reflexive Thematic Analysis, elucidate the extent to which religious shunning impacts an individual’s life. Two dominant themes emerged from the data: “losses due to shunning” and “rebuilding of self post-shunning.” This article will explore the impact that being shunned has on the participants’ lives, considering its psychological consequences and daily challenges. The article will then discuss the positive aspects which may characterise the experiences of those shunned from the Jehovah’s Witnesses community.

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