Must remember <ENTER> key does not move from anti-spam code to text entry area.

June 2012 Discover magazine (in print, not online yet) has an article by Beverly Purdy called Paralyzed by Faith. It reviews a case of a Mormon missionary who was physically paralyzed 3 weeks into his mission because he didn't really want to do the missionary work. It's an interesting read.

Not sure if she's LDS or not (she did do her residency at SLC Utah), but the article doesn't read from an LDS perspective.

I summarized the article in a previous posting.


It tells the story of a Mormon missionary who arrives at the University Medical Center in Salt Lake City. He had been on a mission in Johannesburg, South Africa and woke up one day unable to move his legs. He was hospitalized in South Africa and after finding no evidence of injury or infection, he was flown back to the states.

After multiple tests come back normal, a psychiatrist suggests he may have conversion disorder. Conversion disorder is a psychological malady with symptoms that resemble a neurological disorder or other medical condition. The onset is usually abrupt and typically begins with a mental conflict or emotional crisis, then "converts" to a physical problem that prevents the patient from engaging in the activity that was causing him stress.

After talking to the missionary and asking if anything was bothering him, he states, "I couldn't do it anymore. The mission, I hated being there and didn't like approaching people about religion." He does recovered from his paralysis.

The article has a side box that says 3% of Mormon missionaries return home early because of physical or mental health problems.

We had a missionary return from a Polynesian mission with this disorder. His manifestation was to fall to the floor in convulsions. I was called over to his house during one of these fits because I lived around the corner. They had already called 911. I walked in and thought, "This really doesn't look like convulsions and I won' be convinced until he goes stiff and loses bladder control." But all he did was flop like a giant (he was 300 pounds or so) fish. Then the paramedics arrived. They began assisting and said, "I dunno. This really doesn't look like convulsions."

Once in the hospital, the kid was diagnosed with a mental problem based on being under too much pressure about his mission. He hadn't been out long and apparently hated it. This was a ticket home.

I hated my mission but felt compelled to pretend like it was the best thing ever. I hated being chained to an idiot companion 24/7. I hated the rigid schedule. I hated the mental prison. I hated the weekly reports and the stupid district meetings.

I remember being sick a lot. I wasn't really sick but the stress has to come out somewhere. Stomach aches were a daily thing for months at a time.

+1

Are you me? I swear I could have written every word.

screwed off whenever I could. That was good treatment.

When I was a young Mormon, I kept thinking, I'm glad I wasn't born a boy because I'd hate to have to explain this religion to complete strangers! I'm sure other girls/women can relate.

With all the pressures put on these young men to serve missions at a time when it's normal for them to decide what they want for their own lives. It's wrong on so many levels.

Then they are rushed into marriage and children...

What exactly does that consist of? Sex with a bottle brush?

Maybe I am saying too much but I sort of blame my brother's mission for making him so sick from stress and giving him the medical problems that evolved over the years and eventually killed him. Later as his sister I withdrew him from BYU and the doctor lectured me about how he needed to be careful and it could develop into cancer. Bingo.

It even came up in after-funeral conversation and I had the nerve to say I knew his mission was when his stress-related illness started and I felt it was the pressure of the mission. But there was the disconnect in reply about how it was not the mission but his concern for his roommate led him to neglect his own health blah blah blah.

This is something I am dreading in later years, my TBM DH and ward members pushing my DS to go on a mission. He is an admitted agnostic in his early teens. I've told him he doesn't have to go and to not let anyone push him around, including his father.

I remember a couple of years ago when DS was a deacon and in the YM's third-hour class he was given a sheet of paper and a pencil and was to write what he could do to prepare for his mission. To my utmost joy, this smart lad made the paper into an airplane and few it out the window. :-D A member of the bishopric pulled TBM DH out of EQ and related the story to him. To his credit, DH said, "Hey, he's only a deacon. We'll worry about this more in a couple of years." The counselor was stunned, hee hee. I hope TBM DH will respect whatever decision DS makes about his religious beliefs and activities. Only time will tell.