Although I'm sure Sandra Day O'Connor will dominate the news and this will get lost in the fray, I wanted to draw people's attention to an op-ed by Brooke Shields in today's
NY Times.
I recognize that its subscription-only now, so below the fold I'll have the entire article, as well a link to CNN's blurb about it.
Why is this in the interest of the community and not some fluff-filled piece we shouldn't waste our precious time with? Because mental illness, Depression in particular, in an oft-misunderstood disease and deserves to be taken seriously. The idea purported by Cruise, namely, that Depression is something you should just get over and stop dwelling on is the kind of idea that causes people not to seek treatment. If you could just move on with some exercise and positive thinking, it would not be a major Depressive episode.
Mental illness is already difficult to treat because people tend to avoid seeking treatment for those very reasons. After all, if your brain is sick, how is it supposed to tell you? Your brain can notice your stomach is off and call your attention to it, but when you brain itself is the problem, its hard to perceive. This is especially true after childbirth when everywhere you go people tell you how happy you are supposed to be. To be depressed about it can feel unmotherly and un-natural. But hiding it only deepens the problem and can lead to serious consequences.
Furthermore, our society already carries a stigma against those who seek treatment for mental illness. Someone who is bipolar is seriously ill, but will likely be called "unbalanced", "crazy", or "unreliable". You wouldn't do this to someone with diabetes, another disease dealing with chemical imbalances, but bipolar disorder is in many ways as serious and chronic an illness for which there is no magic "cure". To deepen that stigma does a terrible disservice to the sick and those in desperate need of treatment.
Most people experience minor depressive episodes, and its easy to say, well, I got over it. And its true there is no easy solution and that anti-depressants should not be handed out in a light-hearted fashion. But the fact of the matter is, there are far more people who could benefit from treatment who don't seek it out of pride and a belief that medication for their illness is a "crutch" just because it happens to be their brain that is sick than those who chow down on them every time they cry.
The medications work. Study apon study apon study of medical research done with controls and the scientific method has shown that. I'm not here to say everyone's as crazy as Tom Cruise. Granted, most aren't. But his claims on anti-depressants are ones that a lot of people share, and the falseness of them should be highlighted.
So go Brooke Shields. You tell 'em, and by the way, you look fantastic.
Brooke Shields in the NYTimes
War of Words
By BROOKE SHIELDS
Published: July 1, 2005
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.
Cut for legality's sake, but please read
the entire article
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.
Again, please read the entire article
Brooke Shields, the author of "Down Came the Rain: My Journey Through Postpartum Depression," isstarring in the musical "Chicago" in London.