Re: Jim Carrey Comments on Antidepressants (from perezhilton.com)

[Guest guest]

I'm glad that Carrey put in his two cents about it, that was brave. I

admire him. But I wish he'd avoided validating the serotonin theory

altogether. The theory was built up and promoted onion-style; it

peels down to nothing in the end: http://tinyurl.com/8vywy

The dopamine hypothesis is really no better. Even the DANs who've

adopted this language should think twice about it-- there's just no

basis.

I totally agree with Carrey that drugs can be a crutch or obfuscate

the real underlying problem, whether medical or emotional, though I

disagree with his statement about people just being fine on these

drugs. I know he was generalizing and couldn't get into it, but a lot

of people aren't so fine: http://www.ssristories.com

Did Tom Cruise really make it so hard for anyone to realistically

criticize these products? Sheesh. Do we all have to tread carefully

lest we be accused of jumping on couches and being... Scientological?

What if Cruise had criticized mercury in vaccines or, say,

pedophilia? Would we all have to pussy foot around those issues?

At the risk of like opening up a whole Don Marquis quote ~ " An idea

is not responsible for the people who believe in it " .

>

> On hilton.com right now:

>

> Jim Carrey, Smarter Than We Thought

> Filed under: Canadialand > Love Line > Jim Carrey > McCarthy

>

> Jim Carrey was on Larry King Live this week, and the outspoken

> comedian opened up about his private life and his longtime battle

> with depression.

>

> Of note, he warned about the hazards of using anti-depressants like

> Prozac for a long period of time.

>

> Carrey said, " At the risk of like opening up the whole Tom Cruise

> Prozac argument, you know, I don't disagree in many ways. I think

> Prozac and things like that are very valuable to people for short

> periods of time. But I believe if you're on them for an extended

> period of time, you never get to the problem. You never get to see

> what the problem is, because everything is just kind of OK. And so,

> you don't deal. And people deal when they get desperate. "

>

> That's why people should seek psychiatric help and talk to a

> therapist on an ongoing basis.

>

> Carrey says - for him - the solution is " Supplements. It is

vitamins.

> But it's also certain elements of the brain like Tyrosine and

> hydroxytryptophan that they're treating depression with now. It is

a

> natural substance that's in your brain. "

>

> We have to give him credit, at least he sounds a lot smarter than

> Cruise did when he tried to campaign against pills. Carrey

adds, " I'm

> going to talk a lot about it in the near future. " Wonder what he

has

> in mind.

>

> As for his current love life, he says McCarthy helps him a

lot.

> Though he has no current plans to get married. Adding, " I love

> very much, and we have a great relationship. And we've both been

> married a couple times. I like it the way it is, and I think she

> likes it the way it is. "

>

[Guest guest]

Good point. Cruise made himself a target and the industry needed one

at that very moment. Sumner Redstone of Paramount didn't kick Cruise

off the lot for couch jumping but because, like Imus, Cruise

criticized a product of a major network advertiser and stockholder.

Cruise did make this easy, though, by jumping on couches.

There was an attempted backlash against Carrey for merely mentioning

the drugs in a negative light but it never took hold. For days after

the King appearance, the top google results for " Larry King Jim

Carrey " were all of sites saying that Carrey had " Pulled a Cruise "

for daring to criticize the meds (then of course these sites went on

a rampage of defense of the meds). Since it wasn't true that Carrey

had " lost it " and any video clips of Carrey which were shown only

underscored that Carrey presented information with grace, the little

smear campaign died.

> >

> > Did Tom Cruise really make it so hard for anyone to realistically

> > criticize these products? Sheesh. Do we all have to tread

carefully

> > lest we be accused of jumping on couches and being...

Scientological?

> > What if Cruise had criticized mercury in vaccines or, say,

> > pedophilia? Would we all have to pussy foot around those issues?

>