BellaOnline Forums Family Early Childhood Tom Cruise Vs. Brooke Shields & pseudo-science

Tom Cruise is absolutely right to have corrected Matt Lauer on the recent Today Show! And, who ever said promoting social reform was an easy pleasentry? If a Hollywood actor is "all about himself and his money" he gets criticized, so don't we want these guys to use their high profile to promote something better for society?
I�ve helped thousands of children and parents NOT use the �kid speed� called Ritalin or other psychotropic drugs which only suppress symtoms and do not handle the underlying cause. I know that natural handling of so-called ADD work when there is actually a physical problem. Or, it may be nothing in the first place. It may be genius intelligence one's dealing with. You do not need a drug to �cure� a child�s natural high-interest in life, or boredom with �modern-day� psychology-oriented schooling. Did you know that per testing, most children who are so-called �ADD� or �hyperactive� simply have a much higher IQ then the other children in class. Yes. This is true per my 15 years of research. So what are we doing then? Are we drugging down and suppressing the normal curiousity of our next generations geniuses - the next Einstein, Motzart, or Tessla? I say NO. And apparently Tom Cruise agrees. We can not be "Lemmings to the Sea" and follow blindly on the matter of our next generations' welfare and their ability to create our future.

Tom Cruise has a right to his OPINION. The problem is he prsented his opinion as fact. He may have studied the "history" of pschiatry (this is from the Laury interview), but he has not studied the MEDICINE of psychiatry, as a matter of fact he has not even attended college, he dropped out of High School his senior year. This man does not have the knowledge to go about giving medical advice! He does, however, have the responsibility when speaking to the public to share his views as opinions not facts, or at least he should. There are many people out there that hear how intelligent he sounds (or at least how he used to before he went ga-ga over Ms. Holmes) and feel like he is a valid resource with experience in the matter.

As for psychiatric medicines, I am so "lucky" as to have a double personal experience. My oldest son (13) suffers from Asperger's Syndrome (High Functioning Autism), and I myself suffer from severe depression that began shortly after my 1st child was born. I dealt w/ my depression on my own because it was mild to begin with. Unlike most PP depression, mine did not go away w/ time however, it continued to get worse. After my 3rd child was born it became severe. This past year I had a nervous breakdown. I used to be a children's choir director in my church, but I stepped down voluntarily from that position, because I was so afraid that I would "lose it" in front of the children. The day I had the meeting with our Minister of Music is when I had my breakdown - 2 hours worth of crying and screaming and sobbing that I couldn't get under control. luckily my husband was with me, I scared my minister half to death. It was then that I knew I could not control this on my own anymore, so I started seeing a counselor and a psychiatrist. I am on Effexor. The counseling would not have done a thing for me without the medication, I could not focus on anything. All I did was go to bed, put a pillow over my head, and cry myself to sleep. Any advice or help my counselor tried to give me seemed like an attack to me. Vitamins were not going to fix that. Had i not been started on Effexor, my car would be wrapped around a tree or off a bridge, because those were the ways of killing myself that I thought would hurt my family the least, maybe they would think it was an accident.

As for my son, (speaking of Tom Cruise) do you remember "Rain Man" that was Michael. Extremely brilliant, violent rages, he used to beat me up, rip out my hair, claw my back and arms. He would go from angelic, loving child sitting in your lap to screaming, spitting tasmanian devil in an instant if someone flushed a toilet and he didn't expect it. He was SO intelligent, but they couldn't put him in the gifted class, because he kept disrupting it.
Now he sees a psychiatrist that specializes in pediatrics and autistic diseases. He is on Adderall XR and Risperdal. He won the math award (highest math grade in all of 7th grade), he participated on the kayak and canoe team (2 silver medals) he wrestled - and although he never won a match, he never lost his temper. He has friends over and he goes to other boy's houses to "hang out". It is a miracle, and yes the therapy has been important, but so have the medications. He has a chemical imbalance in his brain, just like a diabetic has a chemical imbalance in their pancreas and liver. We would never scream about someone taking insulin, why is it so different for these medicines?

No, I don't think she does. In fact, I'm sure she doesn't. I'm sure she just wants to get on with her life, now that she is finally feeling better. I'm way past having children, and have never had any, but I have had depression. Luckily, it wasn't clinical depression, although I thought at the time I would never come out of it!

I just don't like that fact that he appears to be spouting this information as fact when it's not.

Sorry I haven't been back in to respond to each individual post. I'm still recovering from a hysterectomy and some days it's just plain hard to sit up in a chair to be at the computer. <img src="/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />

I believe you can go to www.brookeshields.com but I'm not 100% confident that it's exclusively "her" site. I think it might be handled by an agency that represents her, but I'm just not sure.

Bonnie, yes Cruise interviewed with Billy Bush on Access Hollywood and then maybe a week or so later interviewed with Matt Lauer on the Today show.

As for the petition, I don't think it will make a difference. In another interview I saw (I think with Billy Bush again) Cruise claimed that he had gotten over 300,000 responses and they were supportive. Hmm.... think there aren't a few ticked off women who whipped an email off among that 300,000?? Seems a bit stretched in my opinion. <img src="/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" />

I also strongly agree with the idea that Cruise doesn't get the difference b/w treatment and cure. It's truly unfortunate that we can't all have such a charmed and perfect life that we never need help coping.

Lizzie I don't have a problem with Cruise sharing his opinions on the different treatments to ADD. I disagree that he should speak on it as an expert, which he did. I also have a real problem with him making "expert" statements in reference to women seeking treatment while dealing with postpartum depression. All your research into ADD, treatments, etc. does positively nothing to soothe my offense at this man's label of "irresponsible" in reference to a woman (who happens to be Brooke Shields) who sought help in dealing with her postpartum depression. I find it irresponsible of him to promote that label in that way. We're just now starting to bring postpartum depression out of the closet. We certainly don't need a man of Cruise's stature (who holds no medical degree of any kind!) trying to stuff it back in the closet with his ridiculous statements.

I also find it offensive that Cruise would suggest that parents who medicate their children for ADD are bad or irresponsible parents. I have one child who is now 13 and had more than one person suggest Ritalin for him. I said no. He's a pretty awesome kid and I know I made the right decision. I do have a younger son that needs some kind of medication to help him deal with life. Ritalin came up more times than I could count but it turns out getting his allergies under control made a huge difference. Maybe Cruise would suggest that I'm an irresponsible mother because I give my children daily meds for allergies so they can cope with life better. I can't put my response to that on this board.

Either way, Cruise needs to change his approach. He is NOT an expert. He holds no degree. Perhaps he should consider the 'this is my opinion', 'based on my personal research', 'this is what works for my family', etc. etc. He messed up big time with his "holier than thou" approach.

Have ya'll seen the Save Katie t-shirts? Oh my gosh, that's funny!

Thank you so very much! We were looking for way we could actually send her the petition so she could get read some of the heart-wrenching and some very funny messages! <img src="/images/graemlins/beamedup.gif" alt="" />

I'm a mental health nurse and was quite disturbed to hear cruise's comments about Brook Shields usage of an antidepressant for postpartum depression. But my shock didnt last long when I remembered...oH Tom Cruise...the guy who seems to have stopped taking his lithium and has lost all insight to how manic he appears in public lately. Brook Shields knew she had a problem and took control of her situation. BRAVO!! Hats off to her. Now that's insight. beadladee

ROFL beadladee!! <img src="/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> I agree with your opinions on his behavior - manic is apt description.

I knew that Cruise was a Christian Scientologist, as is John Travolta and several other big stars. I applaud them on their spiritual journeys. However the religion does not make Cruise an expert.

On the other hand, look at Brooke Shields, who has actually lived it. Does she claim to be an expert? I don't think so, but I too salute her efforts to bring postpartum depression out of the darkness. I believe her book, her disclosure and recounting of her experience WILL help other women. BRAVO Brooke Shields!!!

There have been lots and lots of folks stopping in to read this discussion. Please feel free to post. Even if someone has already posted something similar to your thoughts, just drop in an I agree or vote in the poll. If you agree with Tom Cruise, that's ok. We would really like to hear why you feel the way you do.

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Okay, i'm a little confused. Are these guys part of the Church of Christian Scientists founded by Mary Ann Eddy, or the Church of Scientology by L. Ron Hubbard (you know the science fiction author turned "savior").

Not that it really matters, Mr. Cruise seems to be taking, or not taking, something that has caused him to go completely goofy. If he is not very careful, he is going to find himself without his largest fan-base; or on a much more severe level, with a class action lawsuit on his hands for dispening medical advice without a license. Heck the ER nurses couldn't even tell me over the phone if it was OK to take a medication that I forgot at a later time (pharmacy was closed, and Dr.s call service was not working). The nurses could be sued for giving advice, and they definitely have more experience than an actor! "The Pretender" was just a show, you can't really do that!

And I am sure that Ms. Shields has not taken anything he has said too hard, after all, she's been seeing the way he's been acting, too. After the couch-jumping episode on Oprah, I doubt she felt very threatened by him at all.

I Guess this is a women's web-site. I'm a guy, so I do feel a little out of place.

However, I do have a little something to say about "DR. Tom". I wasn't at all happy with hearing about his criticism of Brook Shields a couple weeks ago. And then just hearing about him on the "Today Show" recently really ticked me off! I myself was diagnosed with a mental health disorder, (Post-Tracatic Stress, Bi-Polar), 8 1/2 years ago. But the amazing thing about that, is that I've had the disorder for many more decades then I ever thought that I had, at first. It so happens that 37 years ago, as a young boy, I was diagnosed at that time, with Epilepsy. I was given medication for it. I was never told however that some of the medication that I was given, also happened to be a psychiatric drug, as well. As a result, this same drug was unknowingly, taking care of the P.T.S.D. that I also had at the time, even though, I never knew about it.... When I got into my 20's however, the drug was strong-enough to combat my Epilepsy, but it was no longer enough to deal with the P.T.S.D. that I had. That reared its ugly head, until I was finally diagnosed with what-else was wrong. My medication was increased & I see my psychiatrist four times a year.

But to have an idiot like "DR. Tom" come-out & shove his brand of mental health opinions down my throat, I would say that the talk show he needs to make an appearance on, would be "DR. Phil"! He can jump on his couch, promote his movie, & then tell "DR. Phil" all about the history of psychiatry on his show! That would be more entertaining than watching Tom Cruise berate some guy that's just squirted him with water!

Michelle, we're talking about Church of Scientology. I find the fact that they were founded by science fiction author (no matter how popular or well known) to be concerning in itself. <img src="/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />

Wildman <img src="/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> Thanks so much for posting! Generally, yes, we're a women's site, but we have male Editors here too. We certainly welcome men and appreciate you sharing your thoughts. I hope you'll come back and visit again. Perhaps there are other topics here at Bella that might be of interest to you as well. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> I'm very glad to hear that you are getting help for your P.T.S.D.

I would positively love to see Tom Cruise have a conversation with Dr. Phil!