Psychiatrists Respond to Tom Cruise

I reported recently about Tom Cruise's comments that psychiatry should be outlawed, a position that is a reflection of the standard complaints that the Church of Scientology has against psychiatry. Psychiatrists, however, aren't taking this lying down.

MSNBC reports:

It’s like arguing that the earth is flat,” Dr. James Scully, the Medical Director of the American Psychiatric Association, told The Scoop. “Psychiatry is a branch of medicine supported by substantial research. . . . Comments like that are absurd.  . . . If someone is suffering and needs to get help, it would be a shame if they do not get the help that could help them because a celebrity says something.” Would Dr. Scully welcome a dialogue with Cruise? “A dialogue? Yes. We’d welcome an open dialogue. A Scientology speech? No,” says Dr. Scully, referring to Cruise’s religion, which is opposed to psychiatry. “We don’t find discussions about Scientology useful.”

The position of psychiatry as a science isn't absolutely secure - even non-Scientologists question it and some have compared it to astrology. Right or wrong, however, they at least are making scientific arguments rather than religious arguments.

Read More:

• Scientology: Basics
• Scientology: American Critiques
• Scientology: L. Ron Hubbard