He’s at it again. This time, Tom Cruise has appeared on the NBC Today show, in a crazy clash with host Matt Lauer about his Scientology anti-psychiatry beliefs.
Tom Cruise went crazy at the Today host when questioned about Scientology and prescription drugs, even rejecting claims that drugs such as Ritalin help people as "glib".
You’ve got to hand it to Tom Cruise (DVDs) – of all the career suicides in history, this is one of the most spectacular.
The last Tom Cruise film was, in fact, the best Tom Cruise film. In
Collateral he played completely against ‘failed hero redeems himself
and saves the world’ type, and for once he was believable. The film was
an exercise in stylish understatement, and was all the better for it.
It looked like Tom Cruise was entering the most interesting stage in
his career.
Then, before you know it, he’s shacked up with a virgin young enough
to be his daughter, leaps about on Oprah’s sofa, proposes to his young
beau and gets squirted in the face at a premiere of a film where he
fights some aliens.
Sure, that’s some crazy oddball behaviour. But at least it’s
entertaining crazy oddball behaviour. Going on television and
dismissing a renowned care profession – well, that’s slightly more
dangerous.
He’d already spoken out against Brooke Shields – an actress who
bravely and candidly discussed her post-natal depression and how taking
anti-depressants helped her cope. He returned to the topic on Today,
where he told Lauer "She doesn’t know the history of psychiatry". He
went on to suggest that vitamins and exercise were more effective.
"If you start talking about chemical imbalance, you have to evaluate
and read the research papers on how they came up with these theories,
Matt, okay? That’s what I’ve done."
It’s no secret that Scientology has strong links to the mental
health profession – founder L. Ron Hubbard had written a book called
Dianetics: The Modern Science Of Mental Health, and there are reports
that an internal Scientology policy statement contained the line "Our
war has been forced to become to take over absolutely the field of
mental healing on this planet in all forms."
Nobody is suggesting that people aren’t allowed to discuss things
that they feel strongly about, but it seems a little irresponsible of
Cruise to use his celebrity to denounce something which has helped thousands of people over
the years, especially as he has no formal qualifications to back up his
words.
How will this affect Tom’s career? Will studios trust him to star in
and promote their films when he keeps straying away from actual
promotion in order to put the world to rights? Only time will tell.
The fact remains – if you want help with mental illness, go to a
doctor. If you want to see a tiny, big-nosed man running around trying
to look sincere, go and see War Of The Worlds.
What do you think? Is Tom right to get so uptight about prescription drugs, or should he just take a chill pill? Leave your comments below.
Related stories:
Tom Cruise Drops Charges On Water Pranksters
Tom Cruise: "I Love Katie Holmes, Honest"
[story by Stuart Heritage]
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it is surprising how many speak on a topic they know nothing about. I have study psychology for 7 years, have my own business in the counseling field. I agree with Tom. I disagree with every psychology theory out there because the father of psychology and of these theory goes against Christianity. All of them where atheist (didn’t believe in God), did or have delt with the occult, Satanism and their work was pass on to other generations. Yes it has part truth to it because they study the mind and body. You don’t knee medicine for depression or even several depression or any mental disease at that. Everyone goes through a period of their live when they had enough and break down. want to hear more email me.
it is surprising how many speak on a topic they know nothing about. I have study psychology for 7 years, have my own business in the counseling field. I agree with Tom. I disagree with every psychology theory out there because the father of psychology and of these theory goes against Christianity. All of them where atheist (didn’t believe in God), did or have delt with the occult, Satanism and their work was pass on to other generations. Yes it has part truth to it because they study the mind and body. You don’t need medicine for depression or even several depression or any mental disease at that. Everyone goes through a period of their live when they had enough and break down. want to hear more email me.
It’s not just the fanatical Muslims
you have to watch, Tom Cruise has joined the ranks of fanatical religious members. A rose by any other name etc etc.
Tom Cruise, the poster boy for self
destruction.
Bill Konrad
My mum takes anti depressants, she had a nervous breakdown and thought she was dying. Every 5 minutes we had to call the doctor out, they put her into a rehabilitation center and gave her these drugs, thanks to them she lives a normal life again and doesn’t suffer from panic attacks and hallucinations. No one can tell me drugs used in this way are bad, depression is very real and is present in so many people, maybe because of the way society has changed and our environment, sometimes it is beatable without drugs, but there are many people who are pushed over the edge with it. What Tom Cruise said is an insult, to generalize the use of antidepressants like that and make people believe that they shouldn’t take them because they are bad adds to the negativity surrounding mental health stopping people from understanding it and making them think that people with these kind of problems are freaks. There is a stigma attached to people with mental health problems that Tom Cruise is adding to and it’s not fair, unless you have seen the full extent of depression you have no right to judge what is best for people who have struggled with it so much.
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