I have to admit, as much a whackjob I think cruise is, I dont really agree with the prescribing of mind altering drugs in most cases to treat children.

He's a fruit cake, but I agree with this:

"They're mind-altering, antipsychotic drugs. And there are ways of doing it without that so that we don't end up in a brave new world."

When such a large portion of schoolchildren are on ritalin, so that they can deal with the school system, it masks the schools (and parents, I believe) problems.

If the system doesn't work for human's, then the system is out of wack. Doesn't mean there are not legitimate uses for these drugs, but that they are over prescribed, and helping to mask underling problems.

He can say whatever he wants to. His loopy jawing only hurts his own image.

Drugging kids to alter their behavior is wrong. It is the asy way out. "Give 'em a pill and they'll leave you alone" does the kids a great disservice. Additionally, it teaches them at an early age to pop a pill if you don't feel right. When they get older, how are we supposed to teach them to differentiate between "good" drugs and "bad" ones?

You guys are talking about kids and what you say is right about the over-prescribing to kids. But Cruise is talking about an adult who is experiencing a specific chemical imbalance that can be correct with temporary medication. Apples and oranges.

It's too bad that a reasonable message like "there are other ways to deal with psychological issues than just by popping pills" gets lost in the El Ronner babble. What, pray, does the history of psychology have to do with Brooke Sheilds' body chemistry? Sure, they've been aiming for the quick fix all too often. Yeah, the lying-on-the-couch schtick isn't the other half of the formula, especially with post-partum issues. But if Tommy boy is suggesting that Brooke and thousands like her can think themselves well, he's really going to hit bottom when his body starts to age and reality sets in.

Dr. Tom Cruise? Nah... what an idiot.

The Proper follow-up question for Laurer might have been: "Tom, whose research did you read regarding psychiatry?"

Seems to me the Scientology [cult] is itself against psychiatry.

This would be a case of working from biased data?

Scientology wants it both ways. They want to attack psychiatric practice--ALL of it, not just its weaknesses--as unscientific and unproven. When challenged on the details, they retreat and claim you're slandering their "religion."

I wonder if Cruise did "War of the Worlds" thinking Speilberg might help him get just that much closer to getting on one of L.Ron Hubbard's ships.

No chemical imbalances? How does he explain liberals then? LOL

I hope Cruise's publicist gets over time pay.

Jen nailed it. What does medication for children have to do with Brooke Shield's treatment for postpartum depression?
It worked for her and she is happier for it. "Dr. Nutjob" bashes her for making her own treatment choices--what arrogance
He can't be shocked if the public now bash him for being an arrogant, misinformed, condescending actor. Not a trained physician---he's just a movie actor.

To "Dr. Cruise", high school dropout and actor
From Dr. E, behavioral neuroscientist
As you well know as you are omnipotent regarding the world of psychiatry, methylphenidate, or Ritalin, is a mild CNS stimulant and not an antipsychotic psychotropic drug. Please stick to your career choice. As far as Brooke Shields, from a professional standpoint I believe it was a brave thing for her to make public her postpartum depression. This disorder affects 10-15% of pregnant women and her courage to step forward will only help to normalize instead of stigmatize this disorder.

Here's a question I have for the UnDr. Cruise, is Scientology the religion/pseudo-science of Arrogant Celebrities, or just Idiots? Or am I repeating myself. I think that if (and that's a big if) Cruise is factually representing the poisition of Scientology Church- Cult- Anti- Psychiatric Advocacy Group, then perhaps the debate ought to be in an academic forum, say a dozen Celebrieties with Scientology training vs a dozen Psychiatrists and Neurosurgeons. Televise it, and let the American people judge, but also let it be reviewed by JAMA and other pier review journals. For now he's sleep-taking, too many loose engrams if you ask me, maybe he needs some shock therapy to clear up his thetan. My advice to Cruise, if you want to be treated seriosuly don't try to win arguments by being clever and using ideolocal rhetoric, rather cite objective reserach, and use intelligence and logic.

I love how "Dr." Tom says he has studied psychiatry but did not offer any information, statistics, etc to back up his statement (s).

And he assumed that Matt is some sort of dummy.....

I think we know who the dummy is.

Would somebpdy in the media PLEASE ask Cruise in an interview about the sould of those space aliens that he thinks lives inside of him! Please! I'm dying to see the reaction.

Here's a question I have for the UnDr. Cruise, is Scientology the religion/pseudo-science of Arrogant Celebrities, or just Idiots? Or am I repeating myself. I think that if (and that's a big if) Cruise is factually representing the position of Scientology Church- Cult- Anti- Psychiatric Advocacy Group, then perhaps the debate ought to be in an academic forum, say a dozen Celebrities with Scientology training vs a dozen Psychiatrists and Neurosurgeons. Televise it, and let the American people judge, but also let it be reviewed by JAMA and other pier review journals. For now he's sleep-taking, too many loose engrams if you ask me, maybe he needs some shock therapy to clear up his thetan. My advice to Cruise, if you want to be treated seriously don't try to win arguments by being clever and using ideological rhetoric, rather cite objective research, and use intelligence and logic.

Duoh!, Make that "Would somebody" and "souls of those". I hate posting with low blood sugar!

I love how "Dr." Tom says he has studied psychiatry

Actually, he says he studied the history of psychiatry. Sheesh. If I study the history of physics (rather than, say, actually studying the topic of physics), do you think I can go around bashing physists and the laws of physics?

Come on people! I want to hear about "War of the Worlds." I like Tom Cruise and Steven Speilberg as filmmakers. What they do outside of that is of no concern to me whatsoever!
Besides Matt Lauer only wants to ask the controversial questions. Why don't someone ask him about his recent private life? It would all get quiet then.
Tom was on "David Letterman" and that was fun getting to know about this scary movie "War of the Worlds."

The guy is getting kindve scarey.
If I wan Matt, I wouldve handed him the mic, and walked off
the stage, and said "Tom, please, go ahead and continue to make a fool out of yourself, Im going to stand over there so you cant try to direct it at me."

Freakin cult member, thats what hes become.

As a mother of two who has suffered the terrible effects of post-partum depression....Dr. Tom will never get $10 for a movie ticket from me again! How dare he judge me and the thousands of other women who chose to take temporary action against this debilitating condition. The drugs I took allowed me to better care for my children AND MYSELF. He doesn't have a clue...not only about psychiatry but also what impact his comments will have on his majority-female fan base! Kudos to Matt Lauer for exposing Tom for what he really is...an arrogant whackjob!

Tom Cruise is only proving to the world how much of a loony he really is. The dude is merely trying to sell the world his brand of kool aid...problem is, his kool aid is full of loony juice. Loonies thrive in his (ahem) religion...Kirsie Alley...John Travolta...Jenna Elfman...and a whole stream of forgettable actors...LOONIES!...It just goes to show how 'intelligent' some movie stars are. Don't get me wrong - I LOVE GOING TO SEE A GOOD MOVIE!...it's entertainment...Heck, I still love watching Top Gun...it's entertaining...but the moment ANY of them try to pawn themselves off as truly intelligent members of our society, they have to be able to back it up...Scientology is a big red flag that points to LOONEYVILLE...therefore, taking away a good deal of your credibility away....this is NOT to say, that no loonies exist in other religions....but if you look at the roster of loonies in the (ahem) religion to which he subscribes...well, it doesn't take a 'Dr. Tom Cruise' to figure that on out...!

And let's not forget that his little tart du jour is nothing more than a beard for his own personal (ahem) 'preferences.'....L Ron Hubbard Bless Him, he's just a movie star...!

Quote: "Come on people! I want to hear about "War of the Worlds." I like Tom Cruise and Steven Speilberg as filmmakers. What they do outside of that is of no concern to me whatsoever!"

Well, unfortunately Roscoe, when someone voices clearly ignorant opinions such as Tom Cruise did to the national & international media thus causing it to trickle down to the general populous, people will have opinions. Media conglomerates know that people want to hear his reasoning on those previously expressed opnions as we have opnions on his opnions. If you'd like to hear more about the movie, read a review the day it comes out. I personally like hearing him rant about that which he has no knowledge; it gives the office a good laugh.

The raw, almost comical arrogance that Mr. Cruise put on display during his "Today" interview seems to show that maybe Tom is either blinded by his religion, or his apparent massive ego.

I am a parent of a child who suffers from ADHD, and although we have spent years trying many approaches with with several psycologists, the ONLY thing that allows my son to conduct a normal life at school and home is Ritalin.

Of course, I want my son off the drug as soon as possible, but right now his neurons need the connection that only Ritilan can provide.

For Mr. Cruise to ridicule the way my wife (who IS a licensed Physician, BTW) and I treat our child's disability is rude and ignorant.

I'm afraid Tom came off as a psuedo-intellect with not-so-intelligent grounding. His attitude was that of one who suffers from an inferiority complex,who just discovered that it wasn't a complex after all! Get my drift?
Those who saw the programming were treated to one of those rare moments where an individual of celebrity standing exposed himself as he really is. If he wasn't so absurdly pompous I would almost consider him "scary"!

actually, tom cruise had a good point (despite the fact that scientology is retarded and he is a nutjob.) we give people people stimulants, depressants, and neurotransmitter blockers (antidepressants like prozac) which completely bypass all of the mechanisms we have developed over millions of years of evolution. exercise is a way of pushing the body to regulate and fix itself which is vastly underprescribed. drugs are a short term solution which often come with long term effects and are vastly overprescribed. our national addiction to psychotropic drugs cannot be healthy in the longrun and i'm glad someone said this on national t.v. (drug lobbyists ensure that this doesn't happen in any regular or organized fashion). but i do agree that tom cruise is not qualified to talk about this and seems to be something of a nutjob.

This pissed me off because I was treated with Ritalin when I was younger (from 11 to 16). My parents and I did all the research we possibly could and decided that Ritalin would be worth a try (worth the side-effects!) because I was terribly disruptive due to a very short attention span. My parents had tried everything to help me concentrate, since I was tiny, but nothing had worked. During my time on Ritalin, I certainly didn't turn into a zombie or anything: on the contrary, I thrived and made many friends for the first time in my life. I was popular and outgoing.

The majority of parents who allow their children to take medication have made an informed decision to do what they feel is best for their child at that time. It's not that they are taking the easy way out - deciding your child probably needs medication has got to be difficult in itself! Tom Cruise is a brainwashed moron.

(I left school with As and A*s in my exams. And, BTW, is HG Wells going to get any credit for War of the Worlds?)

I lost all respect for Tom Cruise. He has no idea what he is talking about, but yet he acts like an arrogant expert. My favorite part of the interview is when Matt says "But a little bit what you're saying Tom is, you say you want people to do well. But you want them do to well by taking the road that you approve of, as opposed to a road that may work for them." Tom doesn't know how to respond and then plays into this by continuing to say that he disagrees with Brooke Shields. I would have to say that Matt Lauer was fair with Tom Cruise, he didnt go after the obvious lies of scientology such as Xenu and harmful body thetans planted in us by aliens. After reading about Scientology I have decided that it would be more fitting if it were renamed Science Fictionology.

With regard to Brent Norman:

"For Mr. Cruise to ridicule the way my wife (who IS a licensed Physician, BTW) and I treat our child's disability is rude and ignorant."

I don't believe that he did, but I will:
It is rediculous to hook your child on speed. As things stand, ADHD is an almost anecdotal diagnosis, based on inability to conform to manufactured situations. Doesn't it seem odd that students are made to sit in one place most of the day for much of their childhood. There is nothing about our biology nor evolution which suggests that the ability to do this is normal (or that the inability to do it is pathological). The concept of we would call a "normal life at school" in today's society is rediculous, and the fact that people must be drugged to conform to it is also rediculous. Please don't be sanctimonious about your wife being a physician. Two of the things that I learned while in medical school were that most med students take the dogma fed them and that its much easier to get someone to take a pill than it is to get them to change their behavior for meaningful, lasting health.
Shoveling speed into your son's mouth on a daily basis is something that people should be ridiculed for.

In response to "kjm"

I'm sorry you feel that it is "rediculous" (sic) for me to treat my child as I see fit - and of course we would not advocate Ritilan except as a treatment of last choice. My son had years of therapy with several professionals before we made the hard choice to pursue Ritilan as a treatment.

Bottom line - my son is now able to enjoy his life without the neurological"short-circuits" that used to torture him. With time and other non-drug treatment methods, we see his need for the drug slowly diminishing.

I DO NOT endorse Ritilan or any other drug, but in our case, it has worked. As I wrote of Mr. Cruise, please do not criticize us until you have lived a day in our lives.

In response to Brent Norman-
You are in fact endorsing Ritalin (speed) by posting of your family's usage of it here. In my opinion, these "short-circuits" you describe (hyperactivity and excitability for most ADHD diagnoses) are aspects of normal people's personalities. There is normal variability in human temperament, and to treat one side of the spectrum as pathological is not, in my opinion, humane. You say that it has worked for you, but you are not the one taking speed every day. Long term use (particularly in children) may lead to cardiomyopathies and vascular problems.
My living a day in your life is irrelevant to discussion. I believe that the argument I made before still stands: Our use of these drugs in society are an indication of a sick society, not of sick individuals. We need to work at ways of modifying how individuals interact with society rather than drugging people into societal conformity.

WWXD

What would Xenu do?

He's a fruit cake, but I agree with this:

"They're mind-altering, antipsychotic drugs. And there are ways of doing it without that so that we don't end up in a brave new world."

"They"? What's "they"? All psychiatric meds?

First of all, anti-psychotic meds are specific for psychosis not depression. Thanks to newer meds millions of schizophrenics world-wide are functioning again rather than living their lives in institutions. Schizophrenia effects 1 in every 100 persons. You really think vitamins are an alternative when you have chronic auditory hallucinations, cognitive impairment and delusional ideation? We understand the role of neurotransmitters now in the medical model of mental illness. The Dark Ages are over.

Mental illness is a "mind altering" situation. Thank God that psychiatry via modern pharmacology is correcting chemical imbalances in diseases that destroyed lives and families.

Penny.....a psych nurse

All I learned from this interview is that Mr Cruise is a either a narrowminded, ignorant man or he is in need of a serious psychological assessment. I hope he never has to witness firsthand the devastating effects that a mental or physical illness brings upon the sufferer or his family. Money and love will not cure a severe illness; only trained medical doctors and other medical professionals can. Sometimes drugs are the only way to help.

I would not be surprised if you hear something in the next few days of an apology as I think he has hurt the chances of this movie becoming a success as predicted. Between his teenager actions on his "who cares" love life and his pseudo doctorial degree, he is hurting this movie before it even comes out. I would expect to see low numbers. I can understand overuse of antidepressants in children and adults as i think it is a problem and they are not prescribed properly with the right guidance, but to be so arrogant as for a high school dropout to say he studied psychiatry and to make these bold statements is very arrogant. Movie stars are just that, but their arrogance takes over and for some reason they think because they make movies they are the superiors in politics and medical science. I think we can all see why it didn't work out with Nicole, she was to mature for him.