Brook Shields confronts Tom Cruise

[snow_white]

War of Words
By BROOKE SHIELDS
London

I WAS hoping it wouldn’t come to this, but after Tom Cruise’s interview with Matt Lauer on the NBC show “Today” last week, I feel compelled to speak not just for myself but also for the hundreds of thousands of women who have suffered from postpartum depression. While Mr. Cruise says that Mr. Lauer and I do not “understand the history of psychiatry,” I’m going to take a wild guess and say that Mr. Cruise has never suffered from postpartum depression.

Postpartum depression is caused by the hormonal shifts that occur after childbirth. During pregnancy, a woman’s level of estrogen and progesterone greatly increases; then, in the first 24 hours after childbirth, the amount of these hormones rapidly drops to normal, nonpregnant levels. This change in hormone levels can lead to reactions that range from restlessness and irritability to feelings of sadness and hopelessness.

I never thought I would have postpartum depression. After two years of trying to conceive and several attempts at in vitro fertilization, I thought I would be overjoyed when my daughter, Rowan Francis, was born in the spring of 2003. But instead I felt completely overwhelmed. This baby was a stranger to me. I didn’t know what to do with her. I didn’t feel at all joyful. I attributed feelings of doom to simple fatigue and figured that they would eventually go away. But they didn’t; in fact, they got worse.

I couldn’t bear the sound of Rowan crying, and I dreaded the moments my husband would bring her to me. I wanted her to disappear. I wanted to disappear. At my lowest points, I thought of swallowing a bottle of pills or jumping out the window of my apartment.

I couldn’t believe it when my doctor told me that I was suffering from postpartum depression and gave me a prescription for the antidepressant Paxil. I wasn’t thrilled to be taking drugs. In fact, I prematurely stopped taking them and had a relapse that almost led me to drive my car into a wall with Rowan in the backseat. But the drugs, along with weekly therapy sessions, are what saved me - and my family.

Since writing about my experiences with the disease, I have been approached by many women who have told me their stories and thanked me for opening up about a topic that is often not discussed because of fear, shame or lack of support and information. Experts estimate that one in 10 women suffer, usually in silence, with this treatable disease. We are living in an era of so-called family values, yet because almost all of the postnatal focus is on the baby, mothers are overlooked and left behind to endure what can be very dark times.

And comments like those made by Tom Cruise are a disservice to mothers everywhere. To suggest that I was wrong to take drugs to deal with my depression, and that instead I should have taken vitamins and exercised shows an utter lack of understanding about postpartum depression and childbirth in general.

If any good can come of Mr. Cruise’s ridiculous rant, let’s hope that it gives much-needed attention to a serious disease. Perhaps now is the time to call on doctors, particularly obstetricians and pediatricians, to screen for postpartum depression. After all, during the first three months after childbirth, you see a pediatrician at least three times. While pediatricians are trained to take care of children, it would make sense for them to talk with new mothers, ask questions and inform them of the symptoms and treatment should they show signs of postpartum depression.

In a strange way, it was comforting to me when my obstetrician told me that my feelings of extreme despair and my suicidal thoughts were directly tied to a biochemical shift in my body. Once we admit that postpartum is a serious medical condition, then the treatment becomes more available and socially acceptable. With a doctor’s care, I have since tapered off the medication, but without it, I wouldn’t have become the loving parent I am today.

So, there you have it. It’s not the history of psychiatry, but it is my history, personal and real.

Brooke Shields, the author of “Down Came the Rain: My Journey Through Postpartum Depression,” is starring in the musical “Chicago” in London.

 

[qmvsimp]

Well said. Taking vitamins and excercising are very good suggestions, but to claim that you should never take medication to correct biochemical imbalances in your brain, is emperically wrong.

 

[David_Paul]

Post-partum is scary real. My sister-in-law had it. The most well adjusted, happy person you could meet. First baby of our generation in the family and she went nuts. Both families were large and lived in the same town. Twenty, at least , of us to provide support. There was nothing we could do except to make sure she didn’t hurt herself. Lasted about as long as she had carried her child. Then in a few days, it was over. Whew…

 

[carol_marie]

Tom Cruise is begining to scare me. I think his behavior is so odd… I think he should keep his opinions to himself. He is an authority on nothing.

 

[Peace-bwu]

I have a sister who has suffered through the horrors of mental illness and have watched her battle a diagnosis of Bi-polar, or manic deprssion, with grace and honor. I thank God that she has such wonderful medication to keep the neurons in her brain connected. It has taken years of battling her desire to not need meds, to become so self aware that she can notice hints of paranoia, depression, and mania, and go to the doc so they can tweek her meds. My sister is my hero! She has become the sanest most functional member of my family! My youngest sister also has a depression/anxiety thing going on, but because she has never had the extremes my other sister had, it has taken her a long time to realize that she needed anti’anxiety medication.

.
Anyone who believes this Christian science fiction needs a crash course on reality. There* is* such a thing as a brain that cannot function because of bad chemical wiring, and I thank God there are such good medications to treat it now… it gave me back my sister, better than ever! Sure we want to do all the non-medical aids that we can, but teh worst thing a person can say is that NOBODY needs medication, for so many people with mental illness, the toughest thing for them to realize is that they need to continue taking their meds even when they feel better. It is very tempting for someone to say, “I’m feeling fine, i never needed medication.”

After watching Tom Cruise, I honestly believe he could be mentally ill and, sadly, has fallen into the Christian Science promise of never needing to take medication. I have seen the face of mental illness and, sorry to say, he looks like somone who is manic. i mean this with all charity. I feel very sorry for his young fiancee and her parents. They are devout Catholics, please pray for them. She is only 26.

 

[otm]

My recollection is that Tom is not Christian Scientist, but rather Scientologist. I don’t know if the vitamins and no drugs bit is part of that group, but I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised.

I don’t know if Anthony Robbins is into Scientology, but it sounds a bit like his schtick also.

Not mentally ill, but definitely walking around a couple of ants short of a picnic.

 

[jsk]

Sounds like Tom was Cruise’in for a Bruise’in with those comments he made…

My wife and I have 4 children. After watching my wife give birth to those children, and what she went through getting to that point, and what she went through afterwards, I am humbled by the burden borne by women who become mothers.

A little more respect and humility please, Tom.

 

[MonicaPA]

otm:

My recollection is that Tom is not Christian Scientist, but rather Scientologist. I don’t know if the vitamins and no drugs bit is part of that group, but I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised.

That’s right…a major tenet of the scientologist’s belief is that little green men came down to Earth & invaded us in the past.

Sheesh! Coo-koo for cocoa puffs I say.

 

[JMJ_Pinoy]

snow_white:

War of Words
By BROOKE SHIELDS
London

I WAS hoping it wouldn’t come to this, but after Tom Cruise’s interview with Matt Lauer on the NBC show “Today” last week, I feel compelled to speak not just for myself but also for the hundreds of thousands of women who have suffered from postpartum depression. While Mr. Cruise says that Mr. Lauer and I do not “understand the history of psychiatry,” I’m going to take a wild guess and say that Mr. Cruise has never suffered from postpartum depression.

Postpartum depression is caused by the hormonal shifts that occur after childbirth. During pregnancy, a woman’s level of estrogen and progesterone greatly increases; then, in the first 24 hours after childbirth, the amount of these hormones rapidly drops to normal, nonpregnant levels. This change in hormone levels can lead to reactions that range from restlessness and irritability to feelings of sadness and hopelessness.

I never thought I would have postpartum depression. After two years of trying to conceive and several attempts at in vitro fertilization, I thought I would be overjoyed when my daughter, Rowan Francis, was born in the spring of 2003. But instead I felt completely overwhelmed. This baby was a stranger to me. I didn’t know what to do with her. I didn’t feel at all joyful. I attributed feelings of doom to simple fatigue and figured that they would eventually go away. But they didn’t; in fact, they got worse.

I couldn’t bear the sound of Rowan crying, and I dreaded the moments my husband would bring her to me. I wanted her to disappear. I wanted to disappear. At my lowest points, I thought of swallowing a bottle of pills or jumping out the window of my apartment.

I couldn’t believe it when my doctor told me that I was suffering from postpartum depression and gave me a prescription for the antidepressant Paxil. I wasn’t thrilled to be taking drugs. In fact, I prematurely stopped taking them and had a relapse that almost led me to drive my car into a wall with Rowan in the backseat. But the drugs, along with weekly therapy sessions, are what saved me - and my family.

Since writing about my experiences with the disease, I have been approached by many women who have told me their stories and thanked me for opening up about a topic that is often not discussed because of fear, shame or lack of support and information. Experts estimate that one in 10 women suffer, usually in silence, with this treatable disease. We are living in an era of so-called family values, yet because almost all of the postnatal focus is on the baby, mothers are overlooked and left behind to endure what can be very dark times.

And comments like those made by Tom Cruise are a disservice to mothers everywhere. To suggest that I was wrong to take drugs to deal with my depression, and that instead I should have taken vitamins and exercised shows an utter lack of understanding about postpartum depression and childbirth in general.

If any good can come of Mr. Cruise’s ridiculous rant, let’s hope that it gives much-needed attention to a serious disease. Perhaps now is the time to call on doctors, particularly obstetricians and pediatricians, to screen for postpartum depression. After all, during the first three months after childbirth, you see a pediatrician at least three times. While pediatricians are trained to take care of children, it would make sense for them to talk with new mothers, ask questions and inform them of the symptoms and treatment should they show signs of postpartum depression.

In a strange way, it was comforting to me when my obstetrician told me that my feelings of extreme despair and my suicidal thoughts were directly tied to a biochemical shift in my body. Once we admit that postpartum is a serious medical condition, then the treatment becomes more available and socially acceptable. With a doctor’s care, I have since tapered off the medication, but without it, I wouldn’t have become the loving parent I am today.

So, there you have it. It’s not the history of psychiatry, but it is my history, personal and real.

Brooke Shields, the author of “Down Came the Rain: My Journey Through Postpartum Depression,” is starring in the musical “Chicago” in London.

---

I’ve suffered from major depression for about 3 years now and am currently on antidepressants. Vitamins and exercise, while helpful, is by itself *not enough *to get rid of depression! Tom Cruise has no idea what he’s talking about. I’d like to see him try overcoming depression with just vitamins and exercise!