http://www.boston.com/news/globe/living/articles/2005/08/02/uneasy_about_mentioning_late_sibling/

DEAR PRUDENCE

The Boston Globe
2.8.2005

Dear Prudie:

After hearing Tom Cruise's ignorant and uninformed rant about psychiatry being a ''pseudoscience," I had to write. Unfortunately, too many people listen to the opinions of celebrities and take them as gospel. Cruise's irresponsible preaching could harm many people and increase the stigma our society already attaches to those with mental health issues.

I'm a licensed clinical psychologist currently providing care for our nation's military. I could only stare in disbelief at Mr. Cruise's announcement that psychiatric disorders ''can be treated with exercise and vitamins." Part of a soldier's job is to exercise and be healthy, including taking vitamins as appropriate, and let me tell you, those things have never ''cured" a psychiatric disorder yet. Tell a soldier with posttraumatic stress disorder that exercise and vitamins will ''cure" him, and he'll walk out of your office and continue suffering. Tell a suicidal young mother that exercise and vitamins will ''cure" her, and you'll leave her feeling just as hopeless as when she walked in.

I don't know what ''research" Mr. Cruise is reading that tells him there is no such thing as a chemical imbalance, but I suspect it is more of L. Ron Hubbard's. Talk to any reputable neurologist; it's not Mr. Cruise who can read the results of PET scans or functional MRIs.

For those out there who are suffering from depression, anxiety, PTSD, or any other mental health disorder, please don't listen to the preaching of celebrities who claim to be experts. Seek help from a licensed mental health provider. Contact your HMO or the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, or talk to your family doctor for a referral. There are affordable mental health options in every community.

MD, PHD

Prudie seldom runs comment letters like yours, but it seemed worth doing in light of the massive publicity given to this particular actor's pronouncements. We must hope that thoughtful people do not take their medical directives from celebrities who have ties to a religion or a cult, however one wishes to see it. And, of course, Prudie is a lay person, but jumping up and down on a couch -- on television -- did suggest that this young man was, at the very least, manic.

Send your letters to dearprudence at creators.com.

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