Back in 2005, Cruise went on air with Matt Lauer in an interview that immediately gained notoriety, partly because, in a demonstration of his ignorance of the word’s definition, he described Lauer as being ‘glib.’ In the interview Cruise went on record saying that Brooke Shields, who had written of her experience with post-partum depression, should have dealt with it by using “vitamins and exercise” instead of the antidepressant Paxil. He also called psychiatry a pseudoscience and claimed that “there is no such thing as a chemical imbalance.” In a moment that was simultaneously laugh-out-loud funny and highly disturbing, he stated “I don’t talk about things I don’t understand.”
Well, it was pretty apparent that Mr. Cruise didn’t understand anything about depression and the medications used to treat it. Gosh, I’d never be depressed if I just took vitamins and exercised? Who knew it was that simple? Oh, wait, it’s not. Actually, Mr. Cruise, there is such a thing as a chemical imbalance. There is also such a thing as crazy, and going on national television and trying to convince people they shouldn’t seek a psychiatrist’s help is one of the worst kinds of crazy.
That was eight years ago, surely we’ve made headway with the mental health issue and its stigma, right? Enter Alex Jones. I had never heard of him until I saw that absolute debacle of an interview on Piers Morgan concerning gun control wherein Mr. Jones became positively unhinged. Apparently Jones has quite a large audience for his show, which scares me because he’s a scary guy. Putting his views on gun control aside, in the middle of his rant he brought up mental health issues by calling SSRIs (medications like Prozac that target serotonin levels) “suicide pills.”
While it’s true that some medications have increased suicidal thoughts in some children and teens, it’s also true that SSRIs and other antidepressants have helped significantly more people than they’ve hurt. Calling them “suicide pills” is grossly irresponsible and dangerous rhetoric that only adds to the stigma our society attaches to depression and other mental illnesses. Most reprehensibly, this misnomer scares people away from seeking help.
Our society’s lack of understanding about depression is a huge problem. Depression is not a simple case of the blues that a person can just “snap out of” or “just get over.” It’s not an invented thing used as an excuse for being antisocial or whatever people think it’s used as an excuse for. It’s not a moral weakness. I once briefly dated (and I still feel shame for this) a guy who told me, when he learned of my history of depression, that he had depression once but then he went to a church revival meeting and was healed of it. The implication of course was that if I were only more spiritual or holy, I wouldn’t have this. Can you imagine someone saying something similar to a person with cancer? Maybe this guy would have, but I doubt it. I don’t believe he had clinical depression, I think he was just “depressed,” as in, really sad. He had some serious theological issues too because David and Elijah both had depression as did subsequent paragons of Christian faith like Martin Luther. When I called him out on the inappropriateness of his statement he said he just thought it would be encouraging. There’s another example of crazy.
Many people don’t understand that depression and other mental illnesses are often like cancer or heart problems. They are physical (chemical) ailments that need to be treated. Just as you can’t will away your high blood pressure, I can’t will away my depression. Certainly both can benefit from, but not always be cured by, good diet and exercise. But when you take a prescription medication to lower your blood pressure, why is it no one bats an eye, but if I take Prozac I’m seen as weak or a bad Christian, etc.?
When Peace Corps found out I had a history of depression I had to write three essays explaining myself and trying to convince them that I had it in me to do the entire length of my service. Well, you all know the ultimate outcome was that, yes, in spite of my “shady” past I was able to complete my service. I also used my experiences and wisdom to give a well-received presentation to my fellow volunteers on dealing with depression during service. So, suck it, Amanda from the Washington office.
Attitudes like those of Cruise’s, Jones’, and what I ran up against in the Peace Corps, along with many messages that our society sends about mental health make people hesitant to disclose their struggles and seek help. While lack of access to affordable mental health care is one part of the problem, I’d say an even bigger part is the stigma. Until it’s as socially safe for someone to say that they have an appointment with their psychiatrist as it is for them to say they have an appointment for dialysis, we haven’t adequately addressed the issue of mental health in this country.
Now that the shooting in Connecticut has started conversations not just about gun control, but about mental health, let’s make sure that our conversations are responsible, productive, and begin with a real understanding of the subject. We’d be crazy not to.