Anyone considering Tom cruise a credible source for info on post partum depression probably isn’t the most discerning in where they get their medical info anyway
I admire the guy's work ethic and pantheon of successful entertainments but I think most intelligent people would take anything a celebrity claims is fact with one or more grains of salt, regardless, especially if they are involved in a cult.
Let's just remember him as a fantastic actor and classify the shenenigans in his personal life with SC under 'bored and not knowing how to have an impact with his money'.
It's kind of odd to me that we listen to famous actors' opinions on anything other than acting, instead of treating them like the average Joe they are when they speak about something that's not in their area of expertise.
If I'm not going to listen to Linus Pauling about megadoses of vitamin C, I'm not going listen to celebrities about anything except fame and whatever made them famous.
People listen to people they admire, and think they have it all figured out, even if they are just skilled in one area. Listening to Tom Cruise's opinion on anything other than acting is as bad as listening to the All-in podcast for anything other than where to put your VC money.
I think most famous actors also don't know anything about acting. Most of them in Hollywood are paid to look pretty on screen and have the acting range of a turnip.
I am pretty sure, although I realize I may be off quite a bit so take it with a big grain of salt.
We humans have this sheepish herd mentality - when SHTF its often manifested in even the best and mentally most resilient of us. A great societal evolutionary advantage in the past for sure, but these days it messes up important stuff like politics and overall heading of society, since its trivial for skilled/talented people to abuse. Trump won that way, as did any other populist ever, this is reason why so many stupid movements like flat earthers exist.
All this boils down to us being mostly emotional rather than mostly rational beings. Emotions are easy to manipulate and change even on their own, do something dramatic and decades of hard facts are thrown out of window in an instant.
Back to why simpler folk so desperately cling to celebrities - we want to be told how to live, what to do, what to think. Figuring out life for oneself is massively harder very long task with no guarantee of success. And lets be honest, most folks don't end up very fulfilled nor happy, life has many tricks how to fuck you up even if you don't manage to do it yourself. Thats why and only why fashion is a thing, rationally it makes 0 sense. Thats why folks get addicted to sugary food that kills them while knowing it very well. We are not good at managing emotions, rather emotions manage us.
I try to actively fight all this, but its an uphill mental battle with parts of myself, and the more successful you are, the further you get from most other folks just drifting in their lives, effectively erasing a lot of common ground.
I believe drugs are overprescribed in this country, especially for mental health issues. Maybe Tom Cruise went too far in claiming all psychiatry is quackery but I don't think it was necessarily dangerous and irresponsible for a celebrity to come out and share their opinion like this, celebrities opening up about their wacky beliefs used to be pretty much accepted before all celebrities decided brand management was instrumental to all public relations.
I’m in no position to attempt any kind of internet diagnosis of Cruise, but I wonder if his disdain for ADHD drugs might stem from his own diagnosis and attempted treatment at some point in his life. He has the energy, intensity, drive, singular focus, and (for lack of better words) obsession often associated with some presentations of the condition.
I'm digging into that now. On one hand I can kind of understand the position, yet on the other the motive and reasoning doesn’t feel quite right. I guess that might be a broad theme with Scientology.
> He has the energy, intensity, drive, singular focus, and (for lack of better words) obsession
That's not ADHD man.
Unless you mean energy, intensity, drive and singular focus for something and the next day you forgot all about it and it's onto the next shiny thing.
For example, 3 hours ago I decided I want to write a video game. Never written anything more complex than PONG in my entire life. I know myself enough that I'll be writing down all the fancy ideas I have, and we'll see if I still want to do it in 2 days.
I’m a bit of both. I have long-lasting, deep-running, intense passions for many things in life (I’m obsessed with aquatic stuff for example, and I’ll hop in the water with a mask and snorkel anywhere and any time of year if I might see something interesting… And my definition of interesting pushes the boundaries of the meaning of that word for most people), yet I’ve got those fleeting interests as well. Far too many of them for sure.
I’ve done the video game one before. Not coincidentally, it had an aquatic theme. I lasted like 2 weeks. I wasn’t discouraged by a lack of interest necessarily, but the sense that it was truly impossible to pursue.
I know some other people with ADHD who have very central and long-lasting interests, but you’re not wrong that the passing (and often even more intense) ones are real too. Perhaps more common as well.
That’s why I said “some presentations”; some people find a groove that allows them to go deep on something they’re interested in, I guess. But certainly not always.
I agree, it seems like experience varies. I fixate quite thoroughly on things for decent stretches. ADHD is a slight misnomer because I don't have an attention deficit, I have selective intense attention. It appears as a deficit because I can't control the focus and if I'm not working on what someone watching me thinks I should they think "that guy can't focus!" In reality, I'm exceptionally focused on something else and without my medication, the odds of me redirecting that focus are almost zero.
If it weren't for the need to occasionally comply for work etc, "ADHD" would be pretty neat and fun. Being mercurial and intense can be isolating, though.
I get interested, I seek out the most direct and as far as I'm able to gauge, best information related to the task I'd like to complete and I consume as much as I can about it until it's done or I'm bored. Or something else takes the intensity. I can juggle 2-3 intense interests at a time, this helps keep them going longer as I'll shift from one to the other if I hit a wall.
Yes, this is exactly my experience. When I’m allowed by life, I enjoy the way ADHD makes me a lot. I get that everyone’s accustomed to their own experience and way of life so everything is relative, but I feel like life without ADHD would be kind of boring. I get so excited about so many things and find experiencing them so gratifying and fulfilling.
My kids are often confused why I’m interested in things (most recently fish and frogs I found in a creek, or enormous boulders we came across on a forest floor which likely fell there from incredibly high rocky peaks hundreds or thousands of years prior) but to me it’s like, how can this not be exciting!? In both instances I was so deeply engaged and amazed by the subjects and it gives me this incredible sense of awe and appreciation for the world I live in. The rest of my family is so uninterested that my interest annoys them, haha.
There’s definitely a downside of course. Like you mention, losing interest in things usually means moving on to something else, but that’s not always a good idea or beneficial to myself or those around me. Even so, I love being able to get into things so intensely.
> ADHD is a slight misnomer because I don't have an attention deficit, I have selective intense attention. It appears as a deficit because I can't control the focus
Yes that is how exactly ADHD works. Focus is there, but not in our control.
The thing I noticed was how bloated and mask-like his face looked. Reminded me of Norm MacDonald near the end that in hindsight was proof he was obviously very sick. I'm no doctor or anything, but his appearance looked very "off" to me. Obviously he was still doing some pretty physically impressive stuff in the video though.
I know I will get downvoted. But Tom Cruise is right. Psychiatry is largely nonsense and the DSM book is almost arbitrarily made up by a bunch of suits. In most of the higher quality studies, antidepressants are no better than placebo. And “ADHD Does Not Exist”, that’s book title by one of the foremost ADHD psychiatrists who helped popularize it but is now calling for a reversion. The symptoms exist, not ADHD is not a real disease.
> In most of the higher quality studies, antidepressants are no better than placebo.
That is extremely strong claim. From what I searched, this is not what higher quality studies found. Instead, they found them statistically working for some issues and not working ... for other issues.
Good to the the comments so far are so propagandized they are clueless why this is posted. They can't even grasp the concept, even if they disagree.
Tom Cruise was right, he was the canary in the coal mine when everyone said he was crazy.
He had a strange religion so it was ok to dump on him.
Ritalin is heavily abused by children. There is no doubt massive amounts of children should be treated by other non pharma methods.
Psychiatry has shifted the Overton window to places no one thought they would go back then. If in the early 2000's you told people the 2024 rates of Ritalin and pharma use they would be shocked at the abuse.
I found the fact that Tom Cruise drove off with the flag at Olympics and the fact that Tom Cruise is a prominent member of Scientology and a fact that Scientology headquarters are in LA and the fact that next Olympic games are going to be LA, kinda interesting
I wouldn't get stuck on it. Scientology is in LA for the movie stars, Tom Cruise is a movie star that got sucked into Scientology, because they like to recruit movie stars. I wouldn't pass that burden on to the whole city of the Olympics.
Cruise has always been a bit off the wall personally. I’m not sure how he stacks up against some of the other awful people in Hollywood, however.
He’s done a bit better at keeping his personal image cleaner over recent years.
My understanding is that his contentious positions are mostly rooted in his faith, which is another rabbit hole.