Are you boycotting Tom Cruise movies?
Tuesday May 2, 2006
Tom Cruise has stated that psychiatry is "pseudoscience" and mood disorders can be cured by "vitamins, exercise and other things." His opinions have angered many in the mental health field as well as many people who have mental illnesses. Will Cruise's statements trashing mental illness affect your decision whether to see his movie Valkyrie? Take our poll.
Comments
Tom Cruise is a friggin fruitcake, who probably needs some sort of medical intervention. I quit going to Tom Cruise movies a long time ago.
I hope that his sweetie gets the worst case of postpartum depression after childbirth. Then he might have the chance to rethink his ideas on the matter.
I think Tom Cruise is bipolar and in a manic phase right now. He suddenly leaves his wife of ten years, falls madly in love with a young girl, and has uncontrollable outbursts of emotion, like the couch-jumping incident. He thinks he knows it all about mental illness, explaining his wild theory to poor Matt. That kind of insistence is classic mania, where you think you know everything about everything. He also came out and said he was abused by his father. 60% of people who are bipolar suffered abuse as a child. And why was his father abusive? A mental problem, perhaps? Obviously Tom knows something is wrong with him, or else he would not have such a vehement opposition to psychiatry. People very seldom feel so passionate about something unless it involves them personally. I pity Tom, and I abhore his use of his celebrity status to demean the people who are mentally ill and want to get help, and to discourage those who need help but are in denial or are afraid to get help.
My concern is about Scientology. That is the source of his beliefs. It is an extremely dangerous organization. We need to educate ourselves about it.
I hate that guy; while debating whether or not I should continue taking antidepressants for my depression because of side effects and other people expressing their disapproval of them, I happened upon his little appearance w/ Matt Lauer. That convinced me to start tapering off of them, but now I’ve had to resort to becoming a part-time student instead of a full time one, and I’ll be graduating 1/2 a year later than I planned to. Even now, I’m wondering if I’m doing the right thing and if maybe vitamins and exercise are the way I should go.
I agree that Tom Cruise is probably bipolar, as he has exhibited all the symptoms. It is terrible that he said what he said to discourage people from getting help for their children. It is hard enough to accept that our children or ourselves need help without people like him using his position as a celebrity to put medication down.
He needs to shut his mouth. I was going to the movies with my friends yesterday but changed my mind because it was a movie with him in it. I think he has no real knowledge of the medical world. He said Brooke Shields should have taken vitamins to control her hormones which would have controlled her depression. Yeah I’m bipolar and I should take Centrum to get rid of mania. Its ridiculous. He has a lot of nerve to say such stuff when all he has is a highschool education. Maybe he does have a mental disorder. It would be quite funny if he did. Not saying mental illnesses are funny it would just teach him a lesson. Or maybe he just has a huge ego.
Before I go on with this comment, I would like to make it perfectly clear that I am NOT a Scientologist or anything or the sort, nor do I agree with most things Tom Cruise has to say….HOWEVER!!!
My husband has bipolar disorder and a few years ago experienced his worst Manic episode. He was admitted to hospital and put on a concoction of “mood stabilising” drugs. They were more like supressants and took away from him his whole personality. When he returned from hospital his family (pre-wife!) sought the advice of Patrick Holford… a very well respected nutritionalist, and got his blood samples checked for food alergies. Through Patrick Holfords diet…INCLUDING A VARIETY OF VITIMINS! (recommended by Mr Holford) my husband has been able to remain on a low dosage of lithium as opposed to being fully reliant on it, and has been “episode free” for about four years… God willing, this will continue!
So I feel that although Tom Cruise is a bit barmy, we should not resort to drugs as our first port of call… a mental problem NEEDS to be delt with correctly and not painted over with medication if there is an alternative! A good GP will never prescribe antie-depressants of mood supressants without councilling, recommending excercise or refering his patient to a phycologist.
FIRSTLYI saw the movie this past Sunday and it was a veritable eye orgy! Great cinematography, but low on “rationality” and “believability” scriptwise. But wow, it sure was fun to watch. The funny thing is after you see the entire film and learn who the BAD GUY is you quickly realize that “the first mission” makes ZERO sense and therefore the entire movie turns to POOP. But as far as boycotting anything Tom Cruise does just because he’s got a head full of idiocy, um, No. I don’t think he’s a good actor anyway so I rarely see his work in the first place, however, now that he has revealed himself as a sputtering RossPerot-Like mad man, I am a bit more interested in his filmic follies!
SECONDLY:
If any of you were to meet the REAL PERSON behind any given actor you might boycott all FILMS! Grow up, folks. Or just stick to reading books. But never meet the AUTHORS!
I am not as judgemental about this. Mr. Cruise has a right to his opinion just like everyone else. I wonder would it not be like the discovery of the wheel? Maybe he is right. Why is it such a big deal if he feels he knows a better way. Human nature is needing a new look at things.
These hollywood hot shots need to clam up, what do they know about bipolar?? His holier-than thou principles stink worse than a scraggly T.V. preacher saying we are sick due to “sin” I am throwing away my dvd’s with his name on it, Tom cruise, you need your bolts tighened! There is no medicine that will “cure” him LOL
I think Cruise’s comments were terribly offensive. My psychiatrists have always meant well and medications often are very beneficial. It is a shame shrinks aren’t trained in alternative medicine, as there *are* tremendous benefits in it. I know that some people appear to be cured through alternative medicine, with no medications at all. However, every person is different and each person responds differently to different treatments. Nothing is guaranteed. I, for one, am very glad there are medications out there, despite my belief in (and usage of) alternative medicine (in particular, I use an extreme nutritional regimen as well as talk therapy to deal with my moods. That’s after a lot of trial and error and research, though. I am currently taking no meds, despite having had episodes of mania and *severe* depression in the past).
I don’t think his comments apply to every situation, but I they do in many. Psych meds are incredibly over prescribed in this country. I believe that medicines should be used in emergency situations. And they should be used ongoing ONLY after other methods have been explored. When I think about all the time I wasted zombified from side effects I want to scream. After 10 years of doctors trying to “find the right combination” I decided to have a go at no medication (with my doctor’s approval). It is by no means easy, but I feel better more often and I don’t have all the nasty side effects. I do have an extensive support system in place too.
Tom Cruise has such great ideas when it comes to mental illness that we should all follow - - just pay more attention to diet and exercise. I think his days of being an actor should be over and he should be a psychopharmacologist. He’s doing wonders for mental illness in this country and abroad - - bravo. Ugh, ugh, ugh!
Tom Cruise is so dangerous, not to mention such old news. He’s a horrible example to people looking to get well.
I agree with TK, but I still think people should avoid paying attention to Cruise’s “advice” on psychiatrics…
I’ve had some depression episodes, and taking the medicine was good for me.
And, yes, I think Cruise is bipolar and is in a manic episode…
I forgive Tom Cruise for being a human being like the rest of us, and being imperfect in that he got sucked into a cult that is the result of a science fiction author’s drunken bet.
But I will still avoid paying to see films with Cruise in them to make my point, as Tom has taken the liberty to make his point.
I am definitely Boycotting all of Tom Cruises movies. Tom Cruise is a frickin’ uneducated, uninformed moron. I also will boycott any movies that feature scientologist actors. The whole lot of them are to be shunned.