Cruise Launches War on Psychiatrists

Cruise Launches War on Psychiatrists

Tom Cruise has declared a public war on psychiatrists because he fears the "pseudo-science" has led to a drug-fuelled crisis for today's children. The movie hunk was diagnosed as dyslexic when he was just seven, and doctors suggested he should take drugs to control his learning problems. Memories of that part of his childhood fuelled Cruise to seek alternative ways of overcoming his dyslexia - a problem that led him to the Church of Scientology's educational programs. Becoming a scientologist in 1984 made the actor look closely at the controversial religion's anti-psychiatry stance, and he has since become a firm believer that the science and the medicating of children is wrong. Speaking exclusively to US news show Access Hollywood as part of a week-long special about his scientology beliefs, the movie hunk declares, "I'm going right after psychiatry and these false labels and this pseudo-science. I was diagnosed as dyslexic; I had a lot of energy as a child. They wanted to put me on drugs... Never did; my mother said no, absolutely not, no way and I'm thankful. Had I been put on those drugs, I never would be here today... I never would have had the career that I'm having. Am I making people aware of it by discussing it openly and saying what a fraud psychiatry is? You bet I am. I feel a responsibility because I care..." The actor also maintains that poor results in education in America can be blamed on mind-altering drugs that are given to children. He adds, "SAT (exam) scores have gone right down the toilet. The parents are blaming the teachers, the teachers are blaming the parents and the psychs are putting everyone on drugs."


http://www.imdb.com/news/wenn/2005-05-27/#2

Cruising Into Outer Space

Teri Mills is a longtime Blog For America community member and participant—as well as a recent op-ed columnist for the New York Times! Her guest column on health care appears on Blog for America on Fridays and she blogs at www.nationalnurse.info.

Tom Cruise has entered a world where no movie star has gone before. Cruise now believes he is an expert on mental illness, telling Matt Lauer on the Today Show, that Lauer does not know the history of psychiatry like he does. Cruise further inflames the situation when he says psychotropic drugs are dangerous and that there is no such thing as a chemical imbalance. Cruise claims psychiatry is a "pseudoscience" and that anti-depressants are "very dangerous." Cruise believes mood disorders can be cured with vitamins and exercise.

As an American, Tom Cruise is allowed to have his opinion, but he is sadly misinformed and mistaken. Physicians and scientists with educational degrees (Cruise dropped out of high school) continue to study and learn about new ways to diagnose and treat mental health conditions. Psychotropic drugs are safe as well as effective and usually side effects disappear within a few weeks after therapy is begun. Finally, multiple studies conducted by scientists have demonstrated that vitamins and exercise alone do not cure mood disorders including post-partum depression.

Cruise's remarks are particularly ill-timed when states such as Oregon are trying to pass mental health parity bills to require insurance companies to pay for mental illness at the same level as a physical ailment such as heart disease or cancer. "The limits on mental health treatment are open and legal insurance discrimination", says Senator Laurie Monnes Anderson, (D-Gresham) who happens to also be a nurse.

Psychiatrists and mental health providers across the country are angered and are fearful that Cruise could undo decades of work to remove the stigma from mental illness and psychiatric treatment. The truth is when individuals with mental illness including postpartum depression receive adequate treatment, their symptoms are reduced and they can once again function with a high quality of life in society.

—Teri Mills, RN, MS, ANP
Democracy for Oregon

Posted by Guest Writer at 08:31 AM

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