Jim Carrey: Longtime Prozac Users “Never Get to the Problem”
Tom Cruise isn’t the only actor who frowns upon the use of anti-depressant drugs.
“At the risk of like opening up the whole Tom Cruise Prozac argument, you know, I don’t disagree in many ways,” Jim Carrey said. “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,” he said. “And so, you don’t deal. And people deal when they get desperate.”
Carrey’s solution: “Supplements,” he said.
“It is vitamins. But it’s also certain elements of the brain like Tyrosine and hydroxytryptophan that they’re treating depression with now,” he said. “It is a natural substance that’s in your brain. Instead of being a Serotonin inhibitor, which just uses the serotonin you have and Prozac and things like that — it just uses the Serotonin you have and it doesn’t allow it go back into the receptor.
“It metabolizes your serotonin after a while and you have to keep taking more and more to feel good.
“This actually creates dopamine and creates serotonin,” Carrey continued. “It’s a wonderful thing. It’s amazing. I’m going to talk a lot about it in the near future.”
Carrey said his girlfriend Jenny McCarthy also helps him.
He recalled meeting her years ago at David Spade’s birthday party.
“She looked at me, and she said, ‘You just looked so peaceful that I had to come and talk to you,” he told King. “I mean, I’d seen her a bunch of times, never in person. But I just thought — well, she’s nothing like the persona, like the Singled Out person that I met — or that I knew, that I had seen.”
He said they have no plans to wed.
“I love Jenny very much, and we have a great relationship. And we’ve both been married a couple times,” the Yes Man star said. “I like it the way it is, and I think she likes it the way it is.”
December 17th, 2008 at 8:29 am
I didn’t know that Jim Carrey was a physician!
December 17th, 2008 at 8:40 am
Some people have a chemical imbalance that causes the depression. Therefore there are no “issues” for them to work out. So are they supposed to just deal with it and not take drugs to help them??? I hate people like him who make statements like that without knowing what they are talking about. Until you walk a day in someone else’s shoes you should never judge them.
December 17th, 2008 at 8:59 am
Jim Carrey is the man i hope his conditions maintain good for the rest of his life!
December 17th, 2008 at 9:49 am
I had always heard he had bi-polar disorder. Either that’s not true and he’s just whacky, or he’s totally off his meds all together.
December 17th, 2008 at 11:21 am
Some of you defensive folks are missing his point. He is saying that for those people who need to get through some issues they can help but then they need to get off them he did not refer to people who have a chemical imbalance permanently. He admits it can be helpful for people who can’t get through a particularly bad event or something but he then says they need to go off them and he is absolutely right. That is entirely different than people who need them for actual psychological disorders and not just for a bout of depression.
December 17th, 2008 at 12:23 pm
He’s offering an opinion. I’m not a doctor either, but I also have the opinion that there may be better ways that Prozac to deal with depression.
December 17th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
isn’t he a scientologist?
December 17th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
He actually doesn’t seem to mean emotional issues, but that prozac masks the chemical problem rather then solving it. Although I do believe a lot of people do fail to ever deal with emotional issues that is their decision. You do not need to be a physician to understand medical issues. Infact doctors are people just like you and me and just like us most of them are fucking lazy just coasting by doing as much as they HAVE to. Like throwing antibiotics at sinus-infections ignoring all the research that proves that it’s curing the infection but not what is causing the infection. Even though the overuse of antibiotics is very problematic in itself.
December 17th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
I take Prozac for Pre-Menstral Dysphoric Disorder and it’s in EVERYONE’s best interest that I stay on it
December 17th, 2008 at 1:13 pm
He actually doesn’t seem to mean emotional issues, but that prozac masks the chemical problem rather then solving it.
Really, Faith? How do you propose we “solve” the chemical unbalances in our brains?
Prescription drugs help mask the problem because we can’t cure the problem (yet).
As someone living with bipolar, and only recently back on track and healthy (about 5 weeks now), I need medication to maintain a normal life. Counseling and such only does so much.
December 17th, 2008 at 10:52 pm
He can go f himself. Antidepressants saved my life.
December 18th, 2008 at 1:45 am
antidepressants saved his life too, freakin douche.
what he is suggesting isn’t the answer for EVERYBODY. he isn’t suggesting to NOT use subscribed meds. He is SIMPLY stating that in some cases after an extended period of time these drugs can mask what the root of the problem is!
Its like taking vicodine for a toothache….yes it takes away the pain BUT it hides the root of the problem! deal with the tooth!
December 18th, 2008 at 5:08 am
There are two issues at hand. First, you may have the spouse who is depressed over having lost his/her wife of 50 years. Some cannot live with the depression and are given anti-depressants. The death of a child, parent, etc. Free-floating depression (don’t know why depressed) and post-partum depression are issues in which there IS a reason for the depression. They can be discussed, analyzed and treated. Many people can and do go off anti-depressants successfully.
However, chemical imbalances, bi-polar disorder, PMDD, PCOS… cannot be “fixed” with supplements and vitamins. Anti-depressants have been given a bad name and are an invaluable tool when treating these patients.
Charity - if you have a solution to solving clinical depression - go for it. I work in a geriatric-psych unit and have had my share of severely depressed men and women who have lost their spouse of, sometimes, over 50 years. They just can’t “shake it off”, exercise it off, etc. They have stopped eating, going out and basically living. You would not believe the difference anti-depressants and counseling makes in these people’s lives.