David Baxter PhD
Late Founder
Cruise Learns the Hard Way, Stigmatize Psychiatry and Mental Health at Your Own Risk
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Mental health blogger Liz Spikol over at The Trouble with Spikol returned from vacation with a great post this morning about Tom Cruise's departure from Paramount. Mr. Cruise has been an outspoken opponent of psychopharmacology and has slandered depression treatment and psychiatry in favor of his own beliefs. Paramount announced the end of their 14-year partnership, reportedly telling the Wall Street Journal: "As much as we like him personally, we thought it was wrong to renew his deal. His recent conduct has not been acceptable to Paramount."
Last year, Cruise publicly denounced Brooke Shields's use of medication to treat her post-partum depression. He then went on the show Today, and proceeded to lecture host Matt Lauer about mental health issues, telling him: "Here's the problem. You don't know the history of psychiatry. I do." (He's also been involved in something of a bizarre relationship, but that is neither here nor there.)
The reactions to this incident were swift and resounding, and now it appears that Paramount has grown tired of trying to promote movies around Cruise's personal vendetta against psychiatry and mental health medications. As Spikol points out, for those of us concerned with issues in mental health and the stigma attached to depression and other diseases, this move should serve as a friendly reminder of how far we've come. Paramount has shown that criticism of psychiatry and treatments that use medications. As Spikol says, "The pendulum is swinging in a different direction now."
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Mental health blogger Liz Spikol over at The Trouble with Spikol returned from vacation with a great post this morning about Tom Cruise's departure from Paramount. Mr. Cruise has been an outspoken opponent of psychopharmacology and has slandered depression treatment and psychiatry in favor of his own beliefs. Paramount announced the end of their 14-year partnership, reportedly telling the Wall Street Journal: "As much as we like him personally, we thought it was wrong to renew his deal. His recent conduct has not been acceptable to Paramount."
Last year, Cruise publicly denounced Brooke Shields's use of medication to treat her post-partum depression. He then went on the show Today, and proceeded to lecture host Matt Lauer about mental health issues, telling him: "Here's the problem. You don't know the history of psychiatry. I do." (He's also been involved in something of a bizarre relationship, but that is neither here nor there.)
The reactions to this incident were swift and resounding, and now it appears that Paramount has grown tired of trying to promote movies around Cruise's personal vendetta against psychiatry and mental health medications. As Spikol points out, for those of us concerned with issues in mental health and the stigma attached to depression and other diseases, this move should serve as a friendly reminder of how far we've come. Paramount has shown that criticism of psychiatry and treatments that use medications. As Spikol says, "The pendulum is swinging in a different direction now."
