(Video: Fox News)
Fox News’ Tucker Carlson called upon past remarks made by actor Tom Cruise during his monologue Monday, citing Cruise’s rejection of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) as a dangerous and often deadly curative for supposed mental illnesses.
SSRIs are widely prescribed for depression and anxiety, but newly-revealed studies show the eccentric actor may have been right all along. Though they are marketed to remedy depression and mitigate suicidal ideation, the increase in the number of SSRI prescriptions in the U.S. has come with an increase in suicide; the most severe and devastating tragedy the drugs are alleged to prevent.
“Now, drug makers admit that their products may be part of the reason for the increase in suicide,” Carlson stated. “The makers of Prozac, for example, concede that young people who take that drug have an increased risk of suicide compared to those who took a placebo.”
Carlson played a clip a clip of the contentious 2005 interview on NBC’s “Today” in which Cruise schooled the now-disgraced Matt Lauer on the potential dangers of antipsychotic drugs.
“Here we are today, where I talk out against drugs and psychiatric abuses of electric-shocking people, ok, against their will, of drugging children with him not knowing,” Cruise said at the time. “The effects of these drugs–do you know what Adderall is? Do you know Ritalin? Do you know that now Ritalin is a street drug? Do you understand that?”
Lauer sheepishly demurred by asking whether there are examples of people who have benefited from such medications.
“All that it does is mask the problem and if you understand the history of it, it masks the problem,” Cruise replied. “That’s what it does. That’s all it does. You’re not getting to the reason why. There is no such thing as a chemical imbalance. Drugs aren’t the answer. These drugs are very dangerous, they’re mind-altering antipsychotic drugs. And there are ways of doing it without that so we don’t end up in a brave new world.”
Carlson recalled how much of the media labeled Cruise as a wacko at the time, owing likely to his adherence to the philosophy of Scientology, which doesn’t preclude him from being right about certain things.
“Everyone in the media agreed, ‘Tom Cruise is crazy! He is in cult! Shut up!’ A lot of people thought that. We may even have thought that,” the host said.
He continued, “Antidepressants are supposed to cure depression. That’s why they’re prescribed. And yet, over the same period that SSRI prescriptions have risen 3,000 percent. The suicide rate, that may be the most reliable indicator of all depression, has not fallen in the United States. In fact, the suicide rate has jumped by 35 percent. That’s a huge increase. That’s a lot of dead people.”
Carlson went on to cite a recent study from University College London published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry as just one of many studies that have brought into question the relationship between depression and serotonin.
“Here’s what the lead author of that study, Joanna Moncrieff, said about the findings. “I think we can safely say, after a vast amount of research conducted over several decades, there is no convincing evidence that depression is caused by serotonin abnormalities, particularly by lower levels or reduced activity of serotonin.”
“What? That was the whole premise of the drug, which virtually the entire American population was taking on their doctor’s advice and by the way, the drug companies made billions off those drugs,” Carlson argued.
“So, first we were told that SSRIs would save lives. Now we learn they don’t actually work as intended. In fact, the whole idea behind the drug was completely wrong. And yet, and here is the best part, people are ignoring this news and the drugs are still being prescribed. How can that happen in a country based on science? Well, as it turns out, and this is the real point, that happens all the time,” he concluded.
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Frank (Chip) Webster is a musician and composer, former teacher of percussion and U.S. Army Infantry veteran. He holds a degree in English from Arizona State University.
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