Josh Duggar's development frightens me

[Rowan]

OMG, LOL at this entire thread. Yes, Joshie's "development"--or lack thereof--frightens me, too--even more than Josie's.

When they took the trip to Stonehenge, Josh got a Talking Head to say something meaningful about Stonehenge. What did he say? "I actually once had a computer background that was Stonehenge. And...it was actually one of my favorite backgrounds that I've ever had." Wow. Compelling. That's the most interesting thing you could possibly think of to say about Stonehenge, Josh?

Are you kidding me? I was just telling a friend yesterday about how my trip to see Stonehenge (and get up close and touch the stones) was the most profound thing I've ever experienced. And THAT is what he got from it?

Yes, please lock him up in a lab! (and keep Anna away so this doesn't keep spreading to his kids lol)

[Rachel333]

When they took the trip to Stonehenge, Josh got a Talking Head to say something meaningful about Stonehenge. What did he say? "I actually once had a computer background that was Stonehenge. And...it was actually one of my favorite backgrounds that I've ever had." Wow. Compelling. That's the most interesting thing you could possibly think of to say about Stonehenge, Josh?

:lol: That's hilarious. (I still haven't seen that episode.)

I had that computer background for a while, too.

[Patsy]

I am not offended at all, I didn't understand the connection of Freudian psychoanalysis and your obvious preference for behavioural psychology instead of developmental psychology.

I just wondered how much you know about all this and I am afraid not that much, if you don't mind me saying that.

*camps out in thread* Don't let me down, folks.

[Seven Severn]

Something I've wondered about Smuggar's weight gain: Could it be because he's depressed? Overeating could be his way of self-medicating. He was probably taught that life would all fall into place for him if he followed ATI's teachings. Now that he's locked down in a marriage with two kids it could be that life isn't meeting his expectations (he's not remotely independent), hence the self-medicating with food. Just something I've thought about.

[Jessica]

Here ye.

[Deleted07]

Something I've wondered about Smuggar's weight gain: Could it be because he's depressed? Overeating could be his way of self-medicating. He was probably taught that life would all fall into place for him if he followed ATI's teachings. Now that he's locked down in a marriage with two kids it could be that life isn't meeting his expectations (he's not remotely independent), hence the self-medicating with food. Just something I've thought about.

I've thought this myself.

Although I thoroughly agree with everyone else that he is smug and so far up himself if he farted his own brain would shake.

I do however notice, especially with this last baby born. That he isn't all that outgoing or happy, compared to say before his marriage.

I've seen Anna mention at least twice that they hope to catch up to Ma and Pa Duggar soon, and thats within weeks after the 2nd birth. And Josh just doesn't barely comment and doesn't seem to even want to go there!

I very much think he is realising that what he has in life is all he is ever going to have, unless he changes something!. And that must be a very scary and depressing thought!.

[Guest Anonymous]

Something I've wondered about Smuggar's weight gain: Could it be because he's depressed? Overeating could be his way of self-medicating. He was probably taught that life would all fall into place for him if he followed ATI's teachings. Now that he's locked down in a marriage with two kids it could be that life isn't meeting his expectations (he's not remotely independent), hence the self-medicating with food. Just something I've thought about.

I've thought that too. I suspect that his weight gain is due to more than simple gluttony and poor nutrition. If he feels stressed, and is depressed into the bargain, his body could be retaining liquid. I'm guessing that the life he expected to live has failed to materialize, and that he's dismally aware that it will come to a screeching halt once TLC cancels the show.

[Jessica]

I've seen Anna mention at least twice that they hope to catch up to Ma and Pa Duggar soon, and thats within weeks after the 2nd birth. And Josh just doesn't barely comment and doesn't seem to even want to go there!

Heck, when they announced they were expecting Mackynzie, JimBob asks how many kids they want and Anna says "As many as possible". Josh, very quickly, talks over her and says "We'd be happy with 2 or 3" to shut her up!

[The Archivist]

latraviata, I think it was merely a conversational tangent, and that there was no direct connection between developmental psychology, Freudian psychoanalysis and behaviorism implied.

[Georgiana]

I sometimes wonder if the Duggar gravy-train stops, easing up on the pressure for Josh/Anna to perform fertility-wise, if they'll choose to stop at 2 or 3 and go the way of some of the other Keller siblings. They certainly seemed very happy and at ease at the reunion.

[JenniferJuniper]

Heck, when they announced they were expecting Mackynzie, JimBob asks how many kids they want and Anna says "As many as possible". Josh, very quickly, talks over her and says "We'd be happy with 2 or 3" to shut her up!

I think the reality of real life is beginning to hit our boy. And it will really hit hard once TLC moves on.

[marmalade]

Josh is definitely in need of an indoctrination camp. Any way we could go back in the wayback machine and pair him up with Judge Smails on the golf course? After all, the world needs ditchdiggers, too. And who knows, after a hit off a joint, he might even get lucky with Lacey Underalls. :mrgreen:

For the Caddyshack virgins:

The gal at the end is slutty Lacey.

[boysmom]

I'm studying to be an SLP, getting my MA. A 24 week preemie would get early intervention as a matter of course, PT, OT and speech. I haven't watched the show, but it sounds like she might be using jargon, which is later than babbling, kind of delayed, but might be okay. The earlier the intervention the better though, and receptive language is very important, but a lack of expressive language is something to treat regardless. Some kids will catch up, but others will not, and early treatment leads to better results. I think that Josie will have some impact from being a preemie, even if it's not super evident now. It's a life-impacting thing to be born so early.

[Deleted06]

Joshie could easily be depressed. They live in that tiny little house...him, Anna, and the 2 blessings. Or flowers. Whatever the hell Grandma J'Chelle calls them. And he knows Anna is looking to keep on pumping out the little snot-boxes. The TLC gravy train won't last much longer and he can't make much money off that car lot. So he could be imagining an ever expanding family combined with an ever shrinking income. So he drowns his sorrows in Chicken-etti, thus increasing his cholesterol level, blood pressure, and waistline. When he gets dressed in the morning (afternoon?) he wonders if anyone would notice if he wore maternity pants instead of mens pants. Gets even more depressed so he grabs a couple dozen Krispy Kreme's on the way to the car lot.....

[JenniferJuniper]

Joshie could easily be depressed. They live in that tiny little house...him, Anna, and the 2 blessings. Or flowers. Whatever the hell Grandma J'Chelle calls them. And he knows Anna is looking to keep on pumping out the little snot-boxes. The TLC gravy train won't last much longer and he can't make much money off that car lot. So he could be imagining an ever expanding family combined with an ever shrinking income. So he drowns his sorrows in Chicken-etti, thus increasing his cholesterol level, blood pressure, and waistline. When he gets dressed in the morning (afternoon?) he wonders if anyone would notice if he wore maternity pants instead of mens pants. Gets even more depressed so he grabs a couple dozen Krispy Kreme's on the way to the car lot.....

And he knows he doesn't really own that tiny house or the used car lot and that things are just going to get more difficult with more blessings and no TLC. Not to mention the fact that as a virgin he married a girl he barely knew and once the sex gets repetitive, maybe the shock of that sets in. He's had a lot of major changes in a very short period of time.

From what I see of him, I don't like him much, but I can't help but feel a little sorry for him.

[Deleted07]

From what I see of him, I don't like him much, but I can't help but feel a little sorry for him.

Thats how I feel about it, too.

[Lainey]

*camps out in thread* Don't let me down, folks.

Wheeee! :violence-axechase:

And meow139, I love that you referenced Moose Mason, and then "Dug-head." (Jughead?) Archie comics forevah!!! :D

[chiccy]

I don't think Josh is depressed. I think he is as glib, smug, and content with his life/his mediocre self as ever.

Anyone else would be depressed by that life, but not our Smuggar. He thinks he is golden, IMO.

[CanadianHippie]

Either she's just as dumb and shallow as he is, or she's too busy taking care of both the little babies--as well as Big Baby himself--to really think about it too deeply.

Considering some of the crap she's come up with on the show, I'm voting the former. She really does not strike me as the sharpest tool or the deepest bucket in the shed.

[CanadianHippie]

Well somebody wanted to send him to a developmental psychogolist and you responded:

I don't like Freudian psychoanalysis that much ( I prefer behavioural psychology) but I'd love to be a fly on the wall if Josh was lying on that hypothetical couch babbling away. It'd sure be entertaining; unfinished Oedipus complex, perhaps??

I think you may have misread. She is saying she prefers behavioural psychology to Freudian psycholoanalysis. And really, who can blame her?

[donks]

I can't STAND Josh OR Anna.

Josh has this air about him... Like since the wedding (and the subsequent sex) he's developed this irritating smile-like he knows something now that the rest of us don't know. Um, hello Fatass, I can tell by the way you 2 still kiss that your technique could use some improvement.

Anna is fake. She's also quite unattractive, but has yet to realize it. Her gleeful explanation of why she's entitled to drive that huge gas-guzzler made her even uglier.

[donks]

Oh! And I finally saw the episode where we're introduced to Josh's big TV. There's no way they're only using it to watch Life at the Pond, Fireproof (gag me) and the like.

I also finally saw Priscilla. She is more attractive than Anna at 1st glance-then she went into FundieRobot mode and it was sickening. Fake smile and mechanical actions.

I turned the channel.

[YPestis]

I haven't been keeping up with the Duggars. The episodes I've seen (up through most of 3rd season), Josh seemed ok. I'm not getting the overt narcissist behavior. I guess he is a bit of a know it all but I figure that was a product of being firstborn of a large family. What has he been doing to get on everyone's nerves lately?

[Jezebel]

I suspect that his weight gain is due to more than simple gluttony and poor nutrition. If he feels stressed, and is depressed into the bargain, his body could be retaining liquid. I'm guessing that the life he expected to live has failed to materialize, and that he's dismally aware that it will come to a screeching halt once TLC cancels the show.

When I think back to a few years ago, before he married Anna, I recall he wanted to go to law school. Plus, he also seemed to enjoy working with multimedia and building websites and briefly tried doing that as a business.

And now he's running a used-car lot he doesn't even own, and his helpmeet had to rescue him from the bookkeeping and paperwork because he couldn't keep it in order, and he's got two kids and a wife who are totally dependent upon him, and all the while he's still totally dependent upon his dad and TLC--

I don't like him, but I do feel sorry for him. Patriarchy and the Quiverfull way of life isn't serving him anywhere near as well as he was led to believe it would. And there's no way out of it that won't lead to major conflicts within his marriage (assuming Anna is as baby-obsessed as his mother), his family (by rejecting QF dogma), and the larger ATI circle of friends and acquaintances he's grown up in. Going to college--a real college, that might one day allow him to attend a real law school--would be incredibly difficult. And I don't see that he's a driven, self-motivating kind of guy. His attitude as a kid always struck me as that of somebody who assumed he'd get what he wanted without much risk or effort, and that's not serving him well as an adult.

So he's stuck. And if I were in that situation? I'd be depressed, too.

[fakepigtails73]

Josh is definitely in need of an indoctrination camp. Any way we could go back in the wayback machine and pair him up with Judge Smails on the golf course? After all, the world needs ditchdiggers, too. And who knows, after a hit off a joint, he might even get lucky with Lacey Underalls. :mrgreen:

For the Caddyshack virgins:

The gal at the end is slutty Lacey.

Hadn't seen Caddyshack in a while, thanks for the laughs I needed it!! :lol: :lol: