It must be time to promote MI3...

That man has opened his big fat f**king stupid mouth yet again, because apparently people forgot his stance on psychiatry. Again from IMDB:

"Tom Cruise is attacking those who prescribe psychiatric drugs again in the May issue of men's style magazine GQ. The Mission: Impossible III actor, who embarked on an anti-drug tirade in TV interviews last summer on behalf of his Scientology beliefs, has launched a fresh attack on psychiatry, calling for prescription pill poppers to think carefully about the harms they're doing to their bodies. He tells the magazine, "I've always found the 'if it makes me feel better, it's OK' rationale a little suspect. I think it's appalling that people have to live a life of drug addiction when I have personally helped people get off drugs." In the interview, the actor claims he can get someone off heroin in three days through Scientology's detox programs."

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Cheeze - I read that, too. But if his time was really up, there wouldn't have been an audience there in the first place.

I have to say that I do agree with the man.

Well, the way I see it, the moment you pop an antidepressant into your mouth, you are basically just saying "I give up". Is there anything different from popping some Ritalin or lighting up a crack pipe? No. They both make you feel temporarily better about yourself until the feeling goes away...

Cruel, step away from the keyboard. You do not know of what you speak.

I wonder if you would say the same thing to anyone else with a chemical imbalance that manifested itself in more acceptable ways. I seriously hope that no one in your family ever has to do battle with this illness if that is your view on available avenues for treatment.

Updated On: 4/12/06 at 07:58 PM

90% of the time, "chemical imbalances" are psychological problems that have been manifested externally.

Eh I'm sorry. I felt like going the Namo route and being all "satir-eye-cal". I's be sorry. *Hug*

Updated On: 4/12/06 at 08:07 PM

I think they should remake The Basketball Diaries from the Scientologist perspective, and instead of having severe withdrawal reactions, Jim Carroll could recover in three days, score 90 points in a single basketball game, jump on a couch and then fly off to Xanadu at the end or whatever the hell the Scientologists believe.

CS: Have you ever taken antidepressants? Have you ever been in therapy? Have you ever experienced real depression?
Because I have been through all of these things. I have experienced crushing depression. About four years ago, my state was such that I could not pull myself off the couch. I couldn't bring myself to care about anything; not hobbies, not friends, nothing.
I did therapy and it simply didn't do the job for me. It certainly didn't make things worse, but I wasn't getting any real benefit from it. My therapist thought I would benefit from medication. And she was right. I went on Paxil and I became myself again.
People (at least most people...) don't just jump into the meds pool. And nobody should. Medication doesn't work for everyone, but it did wonders for me. There are some problems that don't go away by themselves. Depression is a chemical imbalance just like any other, and I refuse to be ashamed because I need to take a pill to correct mine.

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I'm absolutely certain that I will regret inquiring, but Cruel, what exactly is the background you have in this arena that has allowed you to form this opinion?

"Well, the way I see it, the moment you pop an antidepressant into your mouth, you are basically just saying "I give up". Is there anything different from popping some Ritalin or lighting up a crack pipe? No. They both make you feel temporarily better about yourself until the feeling goes away..."

As someone who has severe depression and needs to take antidepressants, I find that really offensive, Cruel_Sandwich. I went through the first 18 years of my life feeling worthless, anxious about everything, and contempating killing myself over things that seem trivial now, but were devastating at the time.

Without antidepressants now, I honestly would not be able to function and, sadly, may very well not be here right now. I went through a time where I decided that I didn't want to be on drugs anymore and stopped taking them for about a year. That was one of the worst years I can remember. I kept telling myself that there was nothing to be afraid of and that I was fine, but telling myself happy things did not help me get out of bed or stop crying.

I need to take antidepressants to live a happy, normal life. I don't walked around blissed out all the time and I do have sad moments just like normal people even as I take my Paxil. But these sad moments no longer crush me as they used to. I really don't appreciate when other people who may not have experienced the devastating effects of clinical depression tell me that I basically just need to get over it and then I will be OK. Believe me, I would love to, but it's not a simple as you would like it to be.

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Updated On: 4/13/06 at 02:32 PM

EDIT - Nevermind.

Updated On: 4/13/06 at 03:07 PM

Tom has just polarized America and that's probably the best thing he could ever do for his box office. There are people who still think he's the greatest thing since sliced bread and will pay to go see his movie. There are people who cannot stand him and want to see him get his ass kicked in a movie, so they too will pay to go see his movie.