Michael J. Cohen

Tom Cruise’s irresponsible, ideology-based denunciation of psychiatric medicine could actually kill somebody. Encouraging people to stop or avoid treatment can ruin their lives and their families, or kill them. Is he suggesting that people with mental illness should think themselves well, or die trying? Would he say that to someone taking insulin for diabetes?

What he did say with absolute certainty to millions of people is, ‘I've seen the studies... There is no chemical imbalance.’ Yet, modern scanning techniques indicate some variations in the brain architecture of people with active schizophrenia and depression. Studies of the human genome are starting to suggest some genetic predispositions. However, neither of these is enough to satisfy the absolute demand for a specific genetic marker or brain lesion.

But is it not enough proof, coupled with an 80-plus percent success rate and reasonable safety experience, to say that treatment works for many people? Or should we just throw out the medicines because somebody’s ideology says they are bad?

Schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and major depression are life-threatening illnesses. Ten percent of people with schizophrenia, 15 percent with bipolar, and 20 percent with major depression commit suicide.These percentages do not include people who were never diagnosed because they never sought help, or people who kill themselves one day at a time through substance abuse, or people who die in preventable accidents because the illness has impaired their judgment. The World Health Organization estimates the cost of untreated mental illness is billions of dollars every year when you include lost productivity.

Most of these deaths, and much of the suffering, are avoidable because these illnesses respond to treatment most of the time. When you combine psychiatric medicine, individual psychotherapy, and training in relapse prevention and coping skills, people stay alive, with an excellent chance for a successful family and career, more than 80 percent of the time.

There are legitimate questions that need to be raised about the prescribing patterns and use of psychotropic medications in youth and adults. Certainly questions remain about the long term effects of these medications on children. Yet, none of this changes the fact that there are children who can’t learn, or even remain in a classroom, without medicine. Without medication these children may end up assaulting another or being sent to residential treatment at a very high cost to the local school system. Seventy-five percent of the children in the Youth Development Center, and 26 percent of the adults in state prison have mental illness. Many could have avoided incarceration, and may avoid repeating it, with medication and therapy.

Should we as a nation waste those lives because of an ideology Tom Cruise learned from Scientology? Where this discussion becomes a matter of life and death for some people is when a church such as Scientology claims it has a mental discipline that will enable people to stop taking their medicine, or not seek treatment. The implied message is that, if you are taking medicine, you are not as good and strong as you can be. This is pure stigma.

It is irresponsible for Tom Cruise to use his public standing as an actor to stigmatize all those who are dealing with real, honest-to-goodness illnesses. It is very important for those dealing with mental illness, and for the general public, to understand that treatment works, that medications work, and that recovery from these illnesses is very possible.” Michael J. Cohen, Executive Director of NAMI NH, a grassroots, non-profit organization serving people and families coping with mental illness by providing advocacy, education and support.