Tom Cruise and his Idiotic Views on Psychiatry/Psychology

Actor Crush of the Day: Pierce Brosnan

The Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance has gathered some information together on one page, that concerns Tom Cruise's pathetic, desperate, and disconnected from reality arguments, and even manner of arguing, about his negative views of the mental health field.

Please click through, and read through the transcript of his interview with Matt Lauer of The Today Show. It seemed to me, that he is so out of touch with what is real that he himself perhaps is in need of some mental help . . . not because of his beliefs, but you can see it in the way and manner in which he conducts himself, argues, and refuses to address certain things or listen to opposing views. He doesn't have to agree with them but he won't even let Matt spit them out. As well, he seems to ridicule his interviewer, among others . . . .

http://www.dbsalliance.org/CruiseResponse1.html

Following the link to the interview, are a few other links, such as Brooke Shields' response, and DBSA's response, as well as a survey that I took about what I thought. During the course of that survey, I typed out what I would say to Mr. Cruise, and I thought that I would also make that the subject and content of today's posting. Below is what I typed in that survey, as to what I would say to Mr. Cruise.

Let me know what you think about all this.

Dear Mr. Cruise,

You say there is no such thing as a chemical imbalance in the brain or body? What do you think diabetes is . . . it's an imbalance - not having enough of the chemical insulin, among other factors.

As complicated as the human body is, the human brain is even more so, to the point that a lot less is understood about it, and treating it, than is understood about the rest of the body. Even so, much has been learned, and will continue to be learned.

You "believe" in the illnesses that can occur in the body, such as cancer, diabetes, hypothyroidism (lack of enough of a particular chemical the thyroid is supposed to secrete, or in other words, a CHEMICAL IMBALANCE). And yet, you think something as supremely complicated and of more complex functioning than any other bodily system or organ, among humans or animals, cannot have illnesses aside from vascular, trauma, tumors, et. al?

You are saying, in fact, in this world in which NOTHING is perfect, in which EVERYTHING develops flaws or defects or decays over time, which is the very nature of time and biology, that in fact the brain, and its structure all the way down to the molecular level, and the extremely complex array of chemicals that the proper functioning of the brain depends on, that this aspect of human biology/chemistry functions perfectly? And always has, and always will?

You, sir, are an idiot. There are, of course, many areas of medicine, both of the body, and of the mind, that are open to debate. But to say that there is no such thing as a chemical imbalance in the brain, that you do not "believe" in any such thing, is akin to saying you are driving full speed towards a cliff, but that cliffs do not exist. Or that you yourself may not be driving towards that cliff, but you believe that anyone who thinks they are driving towards that cliff, should do so with the gas pedal locked to the floor, and no brake or steering wheel with which to turn away.

You are, in fact, not only an idiot, sir, but a dangerous one, because you are encouraging people to pursue a course that WILL, if they truly believe you, eventually cause the death of someone who trusts your word over that of trained professionals. You are basically saying YOU ARE QUALIFIED to tell a mentally ill person to ignore their doctors, and not take their medicines. You are telling someone who already has impaired judgement and reasoning abilities due to the illness or illnesses they are suffering from, to ignore the judgement of people who have studied for many, many years; the judgement of people who are TRAINED to help them.

You, sir, are a dangerous idiot, because you say you know the history of psychiatry. You know nothing but what books and papers and articles you personally have read, with your personally biased point of view coloring everything you have read.

You are in no way qualified, SIR, and I use that term loosely, to tell anyone what they should do medically, or mentally, for their health or otherwise. What degree, have you earned, in the medical or mental health field? TELL ME THIS.

See me in ten years, Mr. Cruise, when you have earned a degree, and done an internship (and hopefully not ruined any lives in the process of "practicing" medicine as you work towards your Ph.D.), and I will listen to you. I may not agree with you, but I will listen.

Until then, Mr. Cruise, you are a quack, practicing medicine without a license, based on however many hours (100? 200? 10? 50?) that you have read journals, studies, books, et. al on the subject, probably most of which have been slanted in the direction you wanted to see.

You only see what you want to see.

See me in ten years. Until then, I hope and pray that no mentally ill person dies because they listened to you and believed you.