Psychiatrists are displaying more than a Freudian slip when it comes to commenting on actor and high-profile Scientologist Tom Cruise’s comments about psychiatry and anti-depressant drugs.
They’re calling his comments on the Today show and elsewhere “irresponsible.” In other words: the shrinks want him to shrink his comments.
And if there is an underlying thread to some of their comments on radio talk shows and TV news clips it seems to be this: we won’t tell you how to act if you won’t tell us how to treat our patients.
Of course, Cruise’s contention is that people don’t need to go to psychiatrists in the first place. Meanwhile, a key question still is: all of this is coming before his big movie The War of The Worlds is released. Will the publicity get more people to see the flick? Or fewer? Or won’t people care?
No matter, the ongoing tussle between Cruise and the psychiatrists is not pretty — and for that reason it’s getting lots of ink and air time. For instance, CNN reports this:
The American Psychiatric Association on Monday sharply criticized actor Tom Cruise for televised remarks in which he called psychiatry a “pseudo science” and disputed the value of antidepressant drugs.
“It is irresponsible for Mr. Cruise to use his movie publicity tour to promote his own ideological views and deter people with mental illness from getting the care they need,” APA President Dr. Steven Sharfstein said in a statement.
During interviews promoting his latest film, “War of the Worlds,” Cruise has discussed his deep skepticism of psychiatry to explain his belief in the teachings of the Church of Scientology, founded by science-fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard.
In one such interview last Friday on NBC’s “Today” show, Cruise was asked about his recent criticism of actress Brooke Shields for revealing that she had taken the antidepressant Paxil to cope with postpartum depression.
“Before I was a Scientologist, I never agreed with psychiatry,” Cruise said. “And when I started studying the history of psychiatry, I understood more and more why I didn’t believe in psychology. … And I know that psychiatry is a pseudo science.” (Full story)
Disputing the effectiveness of antidepressants generally, Cruise said, “all it does is mask the problem.” He added, “There is no such thing as a chemical imbalance.”
Cruise also singled out drugs, such as Ritalin, that are used to treat children for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, calling Ritalin “a street drug.”
But what’s a little rebuke from the APA, which represents some 26,000 physicians who are experts in diagnosing and treating mental illness?
Cruise is, after all A MOVIE STAR.
But those silly folks at the APA keep trying to combat his assertions with logic and evidence:
“Rigorous, published, peer-reviewed research clearly demonstrates that treatment (of mental illness) works,” the APA statement said. “It is unfortunate that in the face of this remarkable scientific and clinical progress that a small number of individuals and groups persist in questioning its legitimacy.”
But why is the APA alarmed, anyway?
Cruise is probably increasing their business four-fold as members of the public find they can’t escape Tom Cruise, no matter where they turn: he is denouncing Brook Shields, jumping on sofas, getting squirted with water, announcing his wedding, and saying psychiatry is malarky no matter where you turn — seemingly in every newspaper, magazine, television station..and even on highly-thoughtful, serious weblogs like this.
Oh, Mommy, can’t you make him go away?
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.