Everytime i turn on the news these days, I'm getting snippets of the Brooke Shields vs Tom Cruise battle that has been going on.
Ya see, for some post partum depression, Brookie took an anti-depressant under a doctor's care, and mentioned this in a book that she wrote to help other women... Tom thought this was irresponsible of her take a drug for post partum depression, even going so far as to call psychiatry a pseudo science with regards to PPD.
What he said was:
Quote:
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These drugs are dangerous. I have actually helped people come off. When you talk about postpartum, you can take people today, women, and what you do is you use vitamins. There is a hormonal thing that is going on, scientifically, you can prove that. But when you talk about emotional, chemical imbalances in people, there is no science behind that. You can use vitamins to help a woman through those things."
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CNN, on Anderson Cooper's show, had a snippet of the interview with Tom Cruise by Matt Lauer - and it was really appalling to watch - it was looking like Tom needed to be medicated because he really looked like he was off his rocker.
(I can't find that link,)
Today Brooke fires back...
Brooke Shields Fires Back at Tom Cruise's stance on psychiatric drugs
NEW YORK (AP) _ Brooke Shields took aim at Tom Cruise's "Today" show rant against antidepressants, saying the drugs helped her survive feelings of hopelessness after the birth of her first child.
"I'm going to take a wild guess and say that Mr. Cruise has never suffered from postpartum depression," she wrote in an editorial published Friday in The New York Times.
Cruise had criticized Shields for taking the drugs before his appearance on "Today" last week, but became particularly passionate about the issue in an interview with Matt Lauer.
"You don't know the history of psychiatry. I do," Cruise told Lauer.
He went on to say there was no such thing as chemical imbalances that need to be corrected with drugs, and that depression could be treated with exercise and vitamins. Shields called those remarks "a disservice to mothers everywhere."
Shields said she considered swallowing a bottle of pills or jumping out the window at the lowest point of her depression following the birth of daughter Rowan Francis in 2003. A doctor later attributed her feelings to a plunge in her estrogen and progesterone levels and prescribed the antidepressant Paxil.
"If any good can come of Mr. Cruise's ridiculous rant, let's hope that it gives much-needed attention to a serious disease," she wrote.
Shields described her post-childbirth experiences in "Down Came the Rain: My Journey Through Postpartum Depression."
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So the topic for discussion -- What are your thoughts on drugs for depression... Good thing? Bad thing? Last Resort or just go for it from the beginning and save yourself a lot of trouble.
Turn on the television at any hour, and you are going to find at least one ad for a drug for depression... What's your thoughts on that...