[kewtee]

It is very bold of him to state that you don't need medication for depression. It is true that now - and this is VERY new - scientist are talking about the fact that not letting your feelings out for many years will cause depression - also the postbirth.
Those types of depressions can be cured with therapy where you learn to deal with your feelings instead of hiding them.
However I have a hard time imagining Tom Cruise knowing anything about this and my first guess would be that he knows this a huge modern day dicease and he is advertising Scientology as a cure: "Look at me, I am happy, you can be happy too - join now!"

But there still are some depressions that are fysical and they need to be treated with drugs, especially because some of the victims have suicide thoughts. But medication can never stand alone when treating depressions. It is of the very most importancy to have therapy on the side or the drugs will just numb the person for a while. Learning to live with a depression is as important as learning to live with being an alcoholic. (Apart from that there are no comparison between the 2 problems)

The latest I heard in research of these things was that people who have depressions are prone to cancer and now some german scientists are examinig the possibility that not dealing with your emotions/feelings can lead to cancer in the long run...

My own experince is that most of the depressions I have had in my clinic is treatable with psychotherapy - learning to deal with your emotions. But app. 3 out of 10 is referred to the doctor because it is fysical.