Yesterday we reported the extraordinary Tom Cruise interview on the Today Show. Tom angrily defended the Scientology viewpoint on psychiatry and prescription drugs for mental illnesses.
As our comments page for yesterday’s story shows, it’s sparked off a huge debate about how correct Tom was with his views. One one side of the argument, the Church Of Scientology has backed the Tom Cruise Today Show comments, while the American Psychiatric Association has criticised Tom Cruise.
Both sides have come charging out of blocks trying to win over the global population, most of whom probably just preferred Tom Cruise (DVDs) when he didn’t spaz about on sofas.
The president of the American Psychiatric Association, Dr Steven Sharfstein, issued a statement saying "It
was irresponsible of Mr Cruise to use his movie publicity tour to
promote his own ideological views… rigorous, published, peer-reviews
research clearly demonstrates that treatment works. 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".
On the other side of the fence, the Citizen’s Commission On Human
Rights, a group formed by members of the Church of
Scientology, claimed that Cruise was in the right.
“Tom Cruise’s remarks on NBC’s Today Show represent a growing public
awareness about the national crisis of children and adults being
prescribed mind-altering drugs… The Today Show interview was a warning that people need to study psychiatry and its purported research rather than accepting at face value concepts such as a chemical imbalance in the brain is causing their problems, which can deny them real help. In any media interview with a psychiatrist he should be asked what lab test he uses to determine this. There isn’t one."
Interestingly, Tom Cruise mentioned his controversial views days
before the Citizen’s Commission On Human Rights published a paper
drawing attention to the very same points.
Where do you stand on this? Is Tom Cruise exploiting his celebrity
to advertise forthcoming Scientology policies? Or is he highlighting a
point that needs to be made? Maybe you just wish he’d shut up and talk
about exploding aliens out of the sky in his new film. As always, leave
your comments below.
Related stories:
lsm says
I think the APA feels threatened! Oooooooh!! Tom Cruise is right for speaking out against the profit-hungry psychiatric industry that has repeatedly shown it values money over human wellness. The APA’s claim that psychiatry “works” is utter fraud! They haven’t EVER come out with one single cure, in their over 100 year history.
aryakiddnme says
Hm. I’m cured. Brooke is cured.
I guess scientologists lack neurotransmitters.
The bloggoshere seems like a great place to tear apart the science fiction believing cult that is Scientology. I would love to see the church try to go after every one of their detractors for slander and libel. I suppose L. Ron Hubbard never imagined the powerful medium of the internet. He was too busy making up usless jargon and shuffling around his ship in a pair of kleenex boxes for shoes and muttering about Xenu writing the US tax code.
Sylver says
I fully agree with Tom.
“rigorous, published, peer-reviews research clearly demonstrates that treatment works.”
Let me see. How does “published” validate the treatment? It doesn’t. “Peer review”…hum cool. Who do psychiatrist consider as “peers”? … bingo! Other psychiatrists. That’s hardly what I would call evidence material.
That leaves us with “rigorous”. Lol!
Psychiatric disorders are *voted* into existence. Ask a psychiatrist why you should get your kid on ritalin and he will tell you with a straight face that “chemical imbalances in his brain” is the culprit. Ask him which chemical test he has done on the child, and which lab did it… None. There is no such a test.
By own admission, psychs consider the brain to be too complex to be understood. yet they claim to have science. It’s a little bit like a MD telling you he doesn’t know what a kidney is, or a computer programmer who has never seen a computer.
Given 10 persons randomly chosen to examine, 3 psychs have determined that 4 suffered of them suffered from paranoia and other severe disorders…Unfortunately, they did not chose the same 4. Don’t believe me? You don’t have to. Pick a trial. The prosecution psychiatrist consistently find the guy sane and the defense psychiatrist insists his client is nuts. Rigorous?
Psychiatric drugs are not only ineffective, they are also extremely dangerous. Well known, proven side effects of psych drugs are so many it would take a book to list? they range from suicidal tendencies to severe headache. From severe addiction to the zaps of Paxil.
It’s like curing a wound with a sledge hammer. You didn’t feel too good. Well, never mind that. Prozac will give you such nightmares that yesterday’s blues will look utterly irrelevant.
It’s time for psychiatrists to face the charges. After billions of dollars in appropriations (your money, by the way) all they came up with are drugs that destroy the mind, set out to correct chemical imbalances they can’t measure. No doubt the defense’s psychiatrist will claim they are nuts…and boy, for once, he’ll be damm right!
Joesus Christ says
I think they’re both a load.
Scientology is quackery, and may help you think that it’s helping you – if you pay out a quarter-million dollars.
Psychiatry is often quackery, and may help you think you’re helping yourself – if you pay some quack to help you get addicted to mood-swinging up-and-down pills.
The Watcher says
“Psychiatric drugs are not only ineffective, they are also extremely dangerous.”
That’s a pretty lame generalization, Sylver. Like “saying all cinema sucks” because you didn’t like Battlefield Earth.
Sure, not all psychiatric treatments are succesful – but some are. Try telling a diebetes sufferer that “chemical imbalance doesn’t exist”. It’s naive to suggest similar imbalances don’t occur in abnormal brain chemistry.
As for Scientology – the fundamental methodology underlying Dianetics is basically a mix of Freudian analysis, regression therapy and hypnotherapy – which I’d say all fall within the field of psychiatry.
However psychiatrists generally don’t brainwash their subjects by reprogramming them with a “Word Clearing” process, nor do they divulge confidential information from couselling sessions if their clients decide to go elsewhere for help (google “scientology fair game” and “dead agenting” if this last reference is lost on you)
Medical Student says
I have no desire to get into a debate because Scientologists won’t allow themselves to be convinced otherwise, but as a matter of record: yes, there are chemical tests for mental illness, and yes, there are physical changes visible in the brains of people with mental illness.
One of countless examples of chemical studies: Recovered depressed patients, when compared with normal controls, fail to increase levels of brain-derived growth factor in response to tryptophan depletion.
Heck, open any medical journal and look at a psychiatric study. To call it “pseudo-science” is ridiculous.
Schizophrenics have larger ventricles on head CT’s than normal controls–it’s currently hypothesized that the increased size is an artifact of neuronal atrophy. Major depression, bipolar disorder, Alzheimer’s disease, and schizophrenia all have strong genetic links, indicating biological components. Alzheimer’s disease is characterized by neurofibrillary tangles of abnormally phosphorylated tau proteins as well as senile plaques with a beta-amyloid core.
One other thing, that may be related to the lack of compensatory BDNF increase in depressed individuals following tryptophan depletion – here’s the abstract from a 2003 journal article:
Untreated Depression and Hippocampal Volume Loss
Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of antidepressant treatment on hippocampal volumes in patients with major depression.
Method: For 38 female outpatients, the total time each had been in a depressive episode was divided into days during which the patient was receiving antidepressant medication and days during which no antidepressant treatment was received. Hippocampal gray matter volumes were determined by high resolution magnetic resonance imaging and unbiased stereological
measurement.
Results: Longer durations during which depressive episodes went untreated with antidepressant medication were associated with reductions in hippocampal volume. There was no significant relationship between hippocampal volume loss and time depressed while taking antidepressant medication or with lifetime exposure to antidepressants.
Conclusions: Antidepressants may have a neuroprotective effect during depression.
There’s nothing “subjective” about neuropsychiatric research. Rigorous studies are performed using objective measures and must be repeatable. As far as “peer-review” being other psychiatrists–JAMA, the New England Journal of Medicine, etc. all publish psychiatric research and the reviewers of those journals are hardly all psychiatrists.
Medical Student says
“That leaves us with “rigorous”. Lol!
Psychiatric disorders are *voted* into existence.” – Sylver
DSM-IV criteria for clinical diagnosis is determined by committee, but TREATMENT is not. The effectiveness of treatment is determined through scientific study. Pick up a copy of JAMA and criticize how “unscientific” its neuropsychiatric studies are.
They aren’t 100% effective, but drug therapy greatly helps the majority of schizophrenics and persons with bipolar disorder. Do physicians completely understand the pathophysiology of the disorders? No. They do, however, know what seems to help patients, and often use the mechanism of action of the helpful drug to hypothesize a pathophysiological mechanism that can be scientifically tested.
As far as “chemical tests” for diagnosis–yes, you can easily measure levels of various neurotransmitters and hormones, either via the plasma, or more accurately in many cases, via the CSF. That has essentially absolutely no usefullness, however, because most mental disorders are diagnosed clinically (i.e. the patient is symptomatic), and serial spinal taps would also be quite uncomfortable.
Anyone who questions the scientific basis for psychiatric research, do this: Pick 5 studies in JAMA, NEJM, Lancet, etc. examining the same topic (excess dopaminergic activity and schizophrenia, for example) and explain how poorly those studies were designed and statistically analyzed.
Otherwise, take Tom’s advice and don’t talk about something you don’t understand.
aryakiddnme says
Hey Medical Student!
Bravo.
Having an undergraduate degree in a pre-med program and several years in R&D, I can understand the statistical importance of n=38 and the like. Someone gullable enough to be a scientologist etc., may not have the ability to understand the way articles are prepared for scientific journals. They do not know the scientific method. They may as well belong to the flat earth society. Folks like Cruise can influence a lot of people who do not have the intellect or the education to understand good scientific methodology or research. That is where I think Cruise really stepped off. I don’t care what he believes, but when he runs his mouth about it in a public forum as if he “knows” all the facts, it is potentially dangerous. Somebody ought to reel him in. I always thought Cruise was an idiot, he just had to open his mouth to prove it.
After suffering with Post partum depression and having a son with Asperger’s syndrome…all I can say is consider the source.
Time Traveler says
Cruise is right when he says that psychiatric drugs mask the problem. The counter to that is that a chemical imbalance is the “real cause” of the problem. But when placebos are used to treat the “chemical imbalance”, the results are nearly identical as the psychoactive drug — and of course far less damaging.
Psychiatrists, in their desperation to show the world that they are a real science, ignore the evidence that doesn’t back up the brain-is-to-blame theory, and concentrate on dousing the brain with chemicals of which placebos are as effective (and don’t induce suicide and violence).
Check out:
http://www.breggin.com
for the other side of the psychiatric party line, and for emerging (and mostly suppressed) evidence that the brain is not all there is to emotion, consciousness, and awareness, check out:
http://www.alternativescience.com
Time Traveler says
Listen, the scientific method is a wonderful thing. It’s an intensely workable method in bringing to light the truth about our physical world and nature. However, the human mind, thankfully, doesn’t surrender to it. The scientific method demands consensus and replicability — with the ultimate goal of control. And external control is antithetic to a free mind.
No one in their right mind wants to be drugged into a stupor, when trying to resolve emotional difficulties. And only when they are emotionally desperate (and vulnerable) do they concede to it. It is absolutely irresponsible for our mental health system to take advantage of families and individuals, who are in a desperate and confused state, by using drugs of stronger and stronger dosages, to control behavior.
Why do we outlaw the use of marijuana and cocaine? Surely the users say it makes them feel better. How is legitimizing the controlled drugging of a brain by our mental health system any different? It doesn’t solve the individual’s problem. It merely helps to mask and bury it.
Kudos to Cruise for stating the obvious and using common sense.
aryakiddnme says
Dr. Breggin is really good at self promotion as evidenced by his web site. It seems he’s found his niche market with the anti-med, chronic faigue, mutiple chemical sensitivity, anti-vaccine crowd. Cash to be made. Easy prey,those paranoids… Let me guess, he’s one of these proponents of chelation therapy. I guess he’ll be showing up on Quackwatch too.
aryakiddnme says
Dr. Breggin is on Quackwatch.org already! Hm, how did I guess?
Doyle Mills says
Tom Cruise is right!
Psychiatry is pseudoscience. There is no science to psychiatry.
There is no proof whatsover of psychiatry’s claim of a “chemical imbalance”. Tom is drawing worldwide media attention to the issue. If the psychs ever had any proof, now would be the time to trot it out, don’t you think? But they have not, because there is no proof, never has been.
Psychiatry’s diagnoses are bogus, their treatments are dangerous, and their days are numbered. Thank you, thank you, Mr. Cruise for bringing this issue to the forefront!
Time Traveler says
The usual ad hominem response, instead of addressing the issue. Tell me, what’s the chemical that’s out of balance? Last I checked, fluoxetine (Prozac), Ritalin and Paxil weren’t naturally occurring chemicals in the body.
alpanp says
As a Scientologist you already know my ideological slant. I’ve read some posts from medical doctors in regard to this article. The average increase in IQ in Scientology is 25 to 35 points: Mine has increased from 129 to 148, Genius level. This is all documented. How is this possible when you say it is IMpossible?
I also can honestly say I have no unwanted emotions anymore. It seems to me Scientology can do things you people can’t even dream of; the least of which is increase intelligence and well being. We have an E-Meter to get to the point without chasing butterflies. Doesn’t that approach make sense to you? Why don’t you have such an instrument? Finally, can any of you please explain to me why medical doctors have the highest suicide rate of any profession in the world if indeed you have a “science”? Because you don’t sound like an enlightened bunch to me.
WJB says
Tremendous thread boys and girls.
However, it is not possible to equate IQ with common sense. I got an IQ of 165 when I was 15. Didn’t stop me being an idiot at various times though. IQ is a white elephant.
Will
Keri says
I agree with Brooke Shields, Tom has no previous experience with depression and for that matter is a high school drop out. What busines does he have pushing his psuedo religion on the world and criticizing others for seeking treatment for a very real and very difficult health situation? None. Stick to the movies and aliens Tom, your time is better served there. Wasn’t Dyanetics originally written as a work of fiction? Either way, its a crock!
aryakiddnme says
alpanp sez “We have an E-Meter to get to the point without chasing butterflies.”
An “e-meter” is nothing more than a galvanometer. Nice try. Take a human physiology couse at your nearest college rather than blow all of your cash on a religious pyramid scheme.
Why is it that scientologists blindly make statements about medications of which they have no notion of their pharmacological mechanisms? Do any of you know what a synpse is? a molecule of dopamine? malatonin? cytochromes? anyone?
I feel so lonely here.
Scientology seems to do nothing more than shore up peoples’s little solopsistic paranoia. I guess it’s just useless to try and have your “reality be alloyed”. Sheesh.
Meadowlark Lemon says
Anybody who would break up with Nicole Kidman has got to be bonkers.
NICOLE — I AM HERE TO COMFORT YOU!!! LOVE ME LOVE MY ZITS!!!
Signed,
Lenny Bruce (from the Grave)
Jerry says
I wonder if, 25 years from now, Tom Cruise will look as sexy as Burt Reynolds.
CTH says
In all these recent interviews, has anyone bothered to ask Mr Cruise when he became an expert in evidence-based medicine with clinical expertise in psychiatric disorders? Every other sentence out of his naive and uninformed mouth is “you don’t know the science, but I do…” hhhhhmmmm, last I heard he was an actor type of person, not a physician and/or epidemiologist. Please, Tom, stick to your day job.
CTH says
In all these recent interviews, has anyone bothered to ask Mr Cruise when he became an expert in evidence-based medicine with clinical expertise in psychiatric disorders? Every other sentence out of his naive and uninformed mouth is “you don’t know the science, but I do…” hhhhhmmmm, last I heard he was an actor type of person, not a physician and/or epidemiologist. Please, Tom, stick to your day job.
alpanp says
aryakiddnme – “An “e-meter” is nothing more than a galvanometer. Nice try.”
Ok then, so what of it? (I believe a Wheatstone Bridge is the correct name)
If it works as a basic guide to make the invisibility of mind operation visible, is that a bad thing? For that matter I guess you could even use a polygraph.
You do have one-upmanship on me Doctor.
I couldn’t tell you what constitutes the cytological evidence of malignant neoplasm,
transplant your liver, or fix a brain aneurism: We laymen unfortunately are a stupid lot. But like any laymen, I can sure tell you what hurts and when it no longer does.
I notice you still haven’t answered my question:
Why do medical doctors have the highest rate of suicide? After all, you have a science of the mind – Psychiatry! Do you
have an answer?
mjkeate says
Right on Tom:
I have been treated by several doctors. All of which stated I had a low serotin level and started me on a array of anti-deppressants. There was no lab test done. They never even did a basic blood test to rule out basic endocrine system problems like low tyroid and insuling levels.
None of the drugs or psycotherpy i took for over 10 years ever cured a thing or got at the root cause of my depression and anxiety.
The mind and spirit function in a complex way. You can’t cure a spiritual problem with drugs of any kind.
All the money involved between the doctors and the pharmacy companyies perverts this field to such an extent as to be no better than your local crack dealer.
Eric Fuller says
I’d just like to say that scientologists seem to speak in absolutes. Kind of like my aunt on my mom’s side who never went to college, did a lot of drugs, slept with two of my uncles on my dads side at my parents wedding, and is now a born again christian. She insists that the bible is the exact word of god, in english. But according to my religion which is Catholic, I was told that god spoke latin. My girl friend who is Jewish was told god spoke Hebrew and Aramaic.
I like that post by that one guy that said his IQ increased after he established his new life changing belief system. The IQ test is so subjective and he sights it as some kind of proof. You should go work for the Bush administration where standardized testing is the way of the educational future. As a kid I was placed on ritalin in part because because my standardized test scores were too low. The following year I scored in the 95 percentile of all 4th grade children in the state of michigan. Does that make ritalin the word of god in pill form?
alpanp says
Eric,
You miss the point. The only thing I believe in is what you can prove – PERIOD!
To me the rest is a definite maybe.
This flying saucer cult the media sells
you is not Scientology at all. As for this business of aliens and a “Xenu” – in 20 years I’ve never even heard of it. Except from the critics and media. It’s not the centerpiece of Scientology or how, or why
it works: The Reactive Mind is: Its existence is quite provable.
Instead of memories, the reactive mind
stores “Engrams” – mental image pictures of
pain (think about it, you don’t remember pain; it’s stored separately). These engrams register electronically, the practitioner sees it on the needle; and
at the same time, you see it in your mind –
that’s the only subjectivity of it; as mind operation is of course, invisible. The
E-meter makes it more visible to the practitioner. It is a simple guide, that’s all. It is also a flawless lie detector.
If you don’t believe me take a confessional.
We’re open to the public – you won’t get
far if you’re up to no good. This is why Scientology has never been infiltrated.
The meter sends them packing. If you can beat a trained auditor with an E-Meter,
who can extract the truth out of anybody, I’ll eat my words. I know – I’ve tried and I couldn’t do it and don’t know anybody who can. That protects the integrity of Scientology – everybody has to come clean; or else auditing won’t work.
Engrams are linked by association. You look at them, recount them, and if they don’t discharge, you get the earliest similar incident on the chain.
Sooner or later you’ll get material from
past lifetimes. It doesn’t matter what you
believe in, when you get the earliest one
on the chain, the rest will erase – along with any aberration connected with it.
YOU solve your own problems, and examine yourself. It’s very mechanical. It’s not “Faith” in spirits or dieties or aliens.
You soon learn that your experiences go
far beyond one lifetime – and that your identity is not generated by your brain
or the byproduct of chemistry. You had an identity before you even had a body or a brain. This is what Scientology addresses and why it is a religion.
You missed my point about IQ: Sure it’s just a number, but it’s still an indicator
that the psychometrists, psychologists and mental health crowd have alway claimed remains constant. THAT was my point.
I studied psychology as an Ed. major when I was looking for answers. I didn’t find any.
As long as Scientology keeps giving me answers, that’s all I care about: It doesn’t matter if the cat is black or white, as long as it catches mice.
Psychiatry is to Scientology what leeches are to Medicine. Sure, they have stopgap measures – reminiscent of the Stone Age.
I guess it’s less damaging to drug somebody than have him jump off a building, but they can’t change him. And what do you do when the drug wears off?
I am not about to follow the advice of a group of people who account for more suicides than the Japanese Airforce and Hamas combined.
eric Fuller says
I’ll just say 5 things,
1) What does it mean to prove something? I doubt you have actually been to the moon but I bet you believe it exists.
2) Ever heard of a dousing rod?
3) If a your organization is so open and just, why use words like “infiltrate” when describing the actions of nonmembers seeking entry.
4) Despite the kids that poked fun of me at the time for having to go to the office to take my “spaz pills,” ritalin allowed me to calm down enough to actually learn what was being taught, I don’t take it now because I don’t need it any longer.
5) If you have a system that works for you fine. Just know that there verry few absolutes in this universe. The difference between me and you is that I’m not condemning your process, just comparing and contrasting. Sod off.
Eric
Time Traveler says
Eric wrote “Despite the kids that poked fun of me at the time for having to go to the office to take my ‘spaz pills’, ritalin allowed me to calm down enough to actually learn what was being taught, I don’t take it now because I don’t need it any longer.”
Eric, calming children down with drugs is not the answer. Ritalin is an amphetamine. There are natural, safe and healthy ways to control brain and body chemistry and improve study retention and comprehension, that don’t involve psycho-active drugs.
As an aside, I had a friend in college who used to take “speed” just before tests because it “helped her concentrate better”.
Making brains and bodies healthy is one thing, but using mood-altering chemicals should not be part of the solution.
eric Fuller says
Now I’m ほお hooked, did you know that broccoli contains nutrients that could be considered mood altering. If your thirsty, could not water alter your mood. We are not talking King Hell Crank here, we are talking about ritalin. Have you ever taken a class called Organic Chemistry, Or O-Chem, have you ever studied the molecular structure of ritalin, it doesn’t appear so based on what your bloody comparing it to. You can also sod off.
Melodius says
Depression is a very serious disease. I take medication for my depression. If I didn’t, I would probably be dead now, just like my mother and my sister.
Yes, all medications have risks. Thats why i see my psychiatrist regularly.
Yes, nutrition and exercise have mild affects on depression. They also affect diabetes. Should diabetics go off insullin should Tom Cruise decide its “bad?”
doc says
Depression is an illness that kills. No one would listen to Tom if he says that cancer patients should exercise and take vitamins only. If someone with depression stops taking his meds because of Tom Cruise, his/her blood will be on Tom Cruise’s hands.
Eric Fuller says
I just wanted to post some insights about this E meter that has been so highley touted by some. I must admit to doing a copy and past job from this web sight (http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Secrets/E-Meter/index.html) check it out– It’s from Carnegie Mellon University.
Although L. R. Hubbard’s name is on the patent application, the E-meter was actually invented by a chiropractor named Volney Mathison, and was originally called the Mathison Model B Electropsychometer.
Mathison’s Electropsychometer was promoted as an aid to psychotherapy and psychoanalysis, which is anathema to Scientologists!
The more modern “bathroom scale” E-Meter design was registered with the US Patent and Trademark Office in 1997 under registration number 2056778. (Thanks to Scientology attorney Samuel D. Rosen, of Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker, for pointing this out.) Here is the trademark registration. In August 2001, Scientology also registered “E-Meter” as a word mark; the registration is here. But there are many other commercial uses of the term “E-Meter”! It appears the main point of the trademark registration would be to prevent FreeZone groups from marketing their own electropsychometers under this name.
Needle actions can be faked. Martin Hunt confessed to faking an F/N (floating needle, a movement that signals the end of an auditing process) by gently squeezing the cans. E-meter drill 9 and drill 13 are supposed to teach auditors to recognize such actions, but they don’t always catch them. Patrick Jost and Arnie Lerma have found that a violent needle movement called a rockslam can be produced simply by checking the electrode leads, or by corrosion in the plug contacts.
The “metabolism test” done at the start of each session has nothing to do with metabolism.
The mechanical meter movement is specially designed to bounce around a lot, producing extra “phenomena” for the auditor to interpret.
The US Food & Drug Administration raided Scientology on January 4, 1963 and seized hundreds of E-meters as illegal medical devices. The incident is described in Jon Atack’s book, A Piece of Blue Sky, and in this essay by Stephen Barrett, M.D. Since that time, meters have been required to carry a disclaimer stating that they are purely a religious artifact. This appellate court decision describes the trial and the various witnesses who appeared.
This subsequent court decision says in part: “As a matter of formal doctrine, the Church professes to have abandoned any contention that there is a scientific basis for claiming cures resulting from E-meter use. The Church, however, continued widely to circulate Scientology literature such as Government’s exhibits 16 and 31, which hold out false scientific and medical promises of certain cure for many types of illnesses.” Also see this decision by the US District Court in Minnesota concerning the E-meter and unlawful medical claims.
The 9th Circuit reached a similar conclusion, noting that “Labels of disclaimer, to-wit: ‘Not intended or effective for the diagnosis, treatment or prevention of any disease,’ found on about half of devices, were not controlling in determining whether devices were mislabeled within Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, and thus subject to prohibition of importation, but were to be considered together with any extrinsic evidence of intended use of device.”
E-meters are assembled at “Gold Base”, Scientology’s armed compound in Hemet, California.
The St. Petersburg Times reports it takes only 80 minutes to put one together, as the technician shown at left is doing.
And for this they charge over $4,000???
E-Meter-like devices are available from sources outside the Church of Scientology at much lower prices. Rest assured, these fine products are every bit as worthless as the Scientology models. Check out this Google directory for links. But if you want a genuine Scientology E-Meter, you can purchase the “Mark Super VII Quantum™ E-Meter® pastoral counseling device” from the FLAG bookstore. Or pick up a used one on eBay.
From the “idols with feet of clay” department: even L. Ron Hubbard had “discreditable reads” (indications of serious aberration or criminality) on the E-Meter. This really ticked him off!
harold farias says
Tom is a very courageous man, and he has all my respect for racing attention in a very important topic. Do we need drugs to feel better in live? It is necessary that our children take drugs to become social ???
You know that if nothing is done about Ritalin and all this drugs, very soon we will be forced to give drugs to our children even if we don’t want too. All those who ridicules Tom Cruise are IGNORANTS , VERY STUPID AND IRESPONSIBLE TOO.
Thanks..
Melodius says
Apparently I am IGNORANTS , VERY STUPID AND IRESPONSIBLE TOO. No wonder Harold Farias, Time Traveler, alpanp, Sylver, Doyle Mills, Joesus Christ, mjkeate and Tom Cruise want me to kill myself.
Harold farias asks, “Do we need drugs to feel better in live?”
Yes, I do.
Time Traveler says, “No one in their right mind wants to be drugged into a stupor, when trying to resolve emotional difficulties. And only when they are emotionally desperate (and vulnerable) do they concede to it. It is absolutely irresponsible for our mental health system to take advantage of families and individuals, who are in a desperate and confused state, by using drugs of stronger and stronger dosages, to control behavior.”
Thats the point. When I am off meds, I am not in my right mind. I am desparate and confused and want to control my behavior… so I don’t commit suicide.
However, I am not drugged into a stupor. I feel more normal on meds than off.
Telling a severely depressed person to use exercise and nutrition to fight their disease is like telling a drowning man to swim harder. He will drown. The water is stronger.
Thank you to those give me enough credit to judge the vagueries and extremes of my condition and don’t speak in absolutes.
To those that support Tom Cruise’s position: it’s as if you wish me dead. I have no choice but to take that personally.