Amanda Bynes is a lot better these days. After a year of escalating shenanigans (actually, it went from “shenanigans” to “Jesus, someone get this girl some help”), Amanda Bynes finally got some help after her mom was appointed conservator over Amanda’s medical, legal and financial well-being. The arrangement sounds a lot like what Jamie Spears is to Britney Spears. Amanda entered a private facility where she got treatment for more than three months. She got out last December, and she is currently enrolled in the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising in Orange County. But don’t just write off Amanda’s problems as some mental disorder – in a weird turn of events, Amanda’s lawyer issued a statement to all media outlets about Amanda’s current condition:
Long before Amanda Bynes was forcibly hospitalized last July for erratic behavior, rumors ran wild about what ailed the former child star.
“There has been much speculation about Amanda’s medical condition,” her attorney Tamar Arminak tells PEOPLE exclusively. “She asked me to dispel certain rumors. For the record, Amanda does not have schizophrenia, nor has she ever been diagnosed with it.”
The actress, 28, who Tweeted pics of herself on April 5 looking happy and healthy while sunning in a bikini on vacation with her parents in Los Cabos, Mexico, was widely reported to be suffering from the disease and bipolar disorder.
A Bynes family source adds that the actress is making strides in treatment. “She continues to undergo outpatient therapy several times a week,” the source says. “She’s still working through the causes of her past bizarre behavior.”
“Amanda currently is on zero medication,” Arminak reveals. “She’s devoted to living her life as healthy as possible. She’s never had a history of abusing alcohol or hard drugs, and she’s proud to say she’s been marijuana-free for the past nine months.”
After enrolling as a student at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising in Orange County, Calif., “Amanda is very happy studying fashion and she hopes to one day design her own line,” Arminak says.
Bynes will remain under her mother’s legal control until at least September and currently lives with her parents, Lynn and Rick Bynes, in L.A.
“Her family is closely involved with her day-to-day life but they try to give her as much autonomy as possible,” explains Arminak. “She’s doing extremely well. Her primary focus is bonding with her family and being a student.”
Adds Bynes’s mother Lynn: “We’re so proud of how far Amanda has come.”
Is anyone else wondering if something shady is about to happen? It feels like this is some kind of pre-emptive strike, or maybe I’m just imagining things in lieu of another Lohan crack drama. It’s true, Amanda is back on Twitter and she’s posting selfies, but thankfully the selfies aren’t like the crazy ones she was posting last year. So, she’s not schizophrenic. Sure. I’ll buy that. I still kind of think she has some kind of bipolar disorder though. And I don’t really understand what being “marijuana-free” for nine months has anything to do with anything. Oh – her mom issued a statement saying that weed is the reason Amanda was the way she was for more than a year. Really?
Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet and Pacific Coast News.
Yeah, something’s about to go down.
I call BS. Even if weed can cause mental issues, she was WAY, WAY too mental too just be fine now. Why does Hollywood still seem to have such a stigma about mental illness? It’s sad. I wonder what prompted the statement….. Weird. I hope she’s ok, and nothing crazy is going to come out, but yikes… this kind of statement seems like protective damage control.
I agree.I think she does have some mental issues.Her life in the last year was a mess.The only thing I can think of she might have been doing a lot of speed for her to be that erratic.All these celebs need to come clean about what they are doing.I know they are entitled to there privacy but people would respect them more if they were honest.She looks great and seems healthy.Good for her.And pot does effect people different ways.Maybe that was her problem because I think she was using it to mask her mental issues.
Weed is not how it use to be. If not from the canabis club weed is now made with different chemicals and has also been known to cause psychotic symtems if used over a long period of time. So her behavior could have been started by the weed smoking if she doesn’t in fact have any mental disorder. I do which her luck and many prayers go get way
I think it’s her mother that has the stigma about mental illness and weed. She should not have made that statement since it’s obviously false.
It could be that she has a condition that makes cannabis in her system do different things than other people, i.e., an allergy, but the statement is irresponsible and designed to erase her behavior of last year.
You know what, no. I’m not going to keep my original comment. I’m done with posting here.
I read it as: “My client will show up for work and can be insured. Please cast her into whatever you have on the horizon.”
Yup.
Yes, that’s exactly what I thought. Either that or a report to a life insurance agent so as to get the best rates, and I doubt that’s what it was. Sad.
What kills me is the “no medication” part, unless it’s true of course. What will it take to convince people that some medications can truly mean the difference between life and death?
Pretty much
exactly.
That is quite possible. Honestly I’d hope that’s the case because if it’s not and they are in denial about her, that’s worrisome.
I think she has some mental disorder that was exacerbated by pot use. Pot doesn’t make you crazy but if you have other stuff going on it can affect that because it causes paranoia etc.
I’m glad she’s doing better.
This ^^^ I’ve been diagnosed as bipolar, and I will say that weed makes me feel crazy as hell. I have lots of friends who smoke and find it very therapeutic and fun. But I always hated it, it made me feel paranoid and out of control. Not crazy enough to almost burn my dog, but then I never smoked much. I can see how it could have caused problems. The only med I take is Prozac, and I can still function normally without it. I won’t touch pot now, I don’t even like to smell it, because it had such a weird effect on me.
Same thing with me.All my friends when I was younger were so happy and laughing.I was paranoid and scared as hell when I tried it.I can’t even be around it or smell it either.So glad I gave up drugs decades ago.Nice to know I am not the only one that did not do well on that stuff.
I tried it when I was younger and I realized that all it does for me is give me panic attacks. I’m bipolar too so I don’t know if there’s a connection or not.
Same here. Bpii on just prozac. I practically gag every time I smell it because it made me super nuts.
Pot can trigger bi-polar episodes, but yeah not alone. But, I once hallucinated some crazy shit when I ate a huge cookie. I feel bad for her.
I also hallucinated some very odd things with an edible that was marketed as a sleep aid. I only took half of what was the thc, but also contained hops, valerian, melatonin, chamomile. I was up all night w/bed spins. My point is that sensitive people don’t do well with THC, and obviously Amanda is in the ultra-sensitive category.
to add, she could have been mixing in the so-called “synthetic” marijuana which apparently can even make people without any mental illness act very erratic.
That’s what I was thinking.
This. But I’ve also seen some bizarre, paranoid behavior from people smoking some of the new, stronger strains being grown these days.
Yep. I am HUGELY in favor of across the board marijuana legalization because of its myriad of potential benefits~including recreational usage. The fact is, that some folks with mental issues potentially might have those exacerbated by ingesting marijuana. In our rush to legalize it as a nation, we can NOT let this desire to make it legal interfere with RESPONSIBLE and accurate cautions regarding its usage. I expect that as the “reefer madness” hysteria dies down, that research and chmeical studies will be done to downplay some effects (like paranoia) and enhance therapeutic effects (such as feelings of well being).
Any use of recreational drugs, including alcohol, can be problematic for those with mental health issues. If we permit the legal use of alcohol, why not pot? Similar regulation for operating heavy machinery or performing critical functions, like surgery, and whatnot, should also be addressed. As I wrote down thread, I think it is dangerous that her parents are promoting her issues as solely ‘pot induced’. We don’t need any more ammunition to go back to the days of the war on drugs being applied to pot. It can ruin otherwise law-abiding and productive citizens’ lives by way of the criminal justice system (and criminal records).
Schizophrenia can be bought on by marijuana. Obviously it doesn’t cause it but there is a connection between them and I doubt Amanda doesn’t have it.
I’m no expert, but I have never witnessed pot alone causing the behaviors that Bynes exhibited, which seemed to be very aggressive at times. She either has some other psychiatric condition, or she was combining other drugs and/or alcohol. Something isn’t adding up for me. Where is paranormal? Isn’t s/he a psych doctor? Opinion, please.
I reckon she does have a type of mental illness possibly exacerbated by pot/recreational drug use, but I think it’s careful wording by her lawyer; she never outright said that Amanda wasn’t poorly, she simply denied that she was schizophrenic or on any medication. Anyway, she’s got a great support system around her now and she got the help she needed, which is always nice to see.
Best of luck to Amanda! She seems much healthier and happier now, good to know she’s enjoying her studies. Her twitter page just looks like that of a normal girl in her early twenties at college/uni.
I’m not a psych doctor or anything but I have seen a similar reaction to weed, in my cousin. I think he must have some sort of mental disorder that is exacerbated by marijuana. He has THE craziest eyes of anyone I’ve ever met and he has a very, very violent past (and present).
Yup, medication is needed for bipolar but some folks go the holistic route with cognitive therapy.
Weed wouldn’t cause her behavior, however, the use of marijuana in combination with an undiagnosed mental condition can amplify certain symptoms.
I’ve no idea what she has, but ANY drug use isn’t recommended, as her brain chemistry can react differently to the effects of the drug.
I say this as someone who enjoys the occasional toke who works in the medical field.
I don’t smoke. I just think there is some other mental health issue, but if it is a bi-polar condition, wouldn’t she need to be on medication?
I smoked weed once before I knew I was bipolar and I was VERY manic afterwards. And a little paranoid. Not. Fun.
I’m bipolar, don’t require meds but did benefit from cognitive behavioural therapy. I also smoke weed for treatment of migraines, but, in very small doses. It is fairly well-known that excessive marijuana use can cause psychosis, with or without concurrent mental illness being a factor. Smoking too much on occasion might induce paranoia, but, the reckless and dangerous behaviours displayed by Amanda went far beyond simple paranoia. She exhibited classic signs of full-blown mania and/or psychosis. If indeed she is free of mental illness, she had to have been smoking a whole lot of weed, for it to be the sole cause of her downward spiral. Bless her as she continues on her journey to wellness.
^ this. Maria, I agree. Pot use alone wouldn’t cause these issues. There has to be an underlying condition or issue. Even caffeine can negatively affect a person with an underlying mental heath issue. I struggle with anxiety, and caffeine can make it much worse, for example.
There is a strong debate on a causal relationship between marijuana and psychosis. Studies have so far not proven that. There is a correlation between onset of symptoms and disease with usage.
Yeah, the well-known psychosis in healthy people you’re talking about was established during the reefer madness days by crackpot researchers so let’s be careful there. A true, recent connection was only made for people who have certain mental illnesses already.
I know a girl who was perfectly fine in her life, she had friends, went to university etc. There were no signs of any strange behavior or bipolar disorder whatsoever. She started smoking (a lot of) weed and had the scariest psychotic/schizophrenic episodes – to the point were she totally panicked and called friends in the middle of the night because she thought her parents are in a sect and want to kill her. She was then admitted into a hospital for mental disorders where she got her diagnosis.
What I’m trying to say: I think she had some underlying disposition for her mental disorder, but I guess it would never have happened without the weed. For me this was rather scary because it means that anybody could have such a “sleeping” condition, wether it’s schizophrenia or something else.
I guess something similar happened to Amanda Bynes.
Schizophrenia usually doesn’t come about until late teens, early to mid twenties. It comes about that way in people who use, and people who don’t. It probably didn’t “awaken” it because as you said, she was smoking a lot of weed, and probably smoked multiple times before she had the episode.
I’m with Katy. It would have happened anyway. Marijuana just made it worse.
If you get schizoid behavior from pot, then you are not ONLY smoking pot. It’s been laced with something else. Pot can increase paranoia, which is not very helpful to a paranoid schizophrenic (I am speaking in general terms, I have no idea what Amanda’s diagnosis was).
I can say one thing… she would NOT have been subject to a psychiatric hold if there was no psychiatric reason for that hold.
There you are! Thanks. Were your ears ringing because I was talking about you?*
*(That’s an old expression my grandmother liked to use, I’m not sure of the origins)
Agree – it’s actually pretty difficult for a hospital to hold someone against their will. If they did so in Amanda’s case, there was a damn good reason, and it wasn’t because she was detoxing off of pot.
Hey Kiddo, I was between patients when I heard the siren call of Celebitchy!
there is something way creepy about her parents
Yes this is creepy – a little like Francis Farmer. It must really suck for her to have these labels stuck on her in such a public way.
I don’t think there’s anything creepy about her parents. They are just a little older than the ordinary 20somethings parents which is probably why they come off as weird. Her mother is closer to my grandmothers age than my mothers, so the way she speaks/behaves are more that of someone from a different generation than what you’d be used to seeing as a 25 (or however old she is) year olds mother.
Don’t quote me but I think in people predisposed to schizophrenia, weed is a trigger. I’m glad she’s getting better but I dunno that I’d go so far as to say she’s not on any medication or have any mental issues because if that’s true then she was just being an a-hole when she pulled all that crazy stuff last year.
My dear little cousin who was diagnosed w/schizophrenia was a heavy weed smoker. It exacerbated her illness horribly. She stopped smoking it briefly and she seemed to normalize a bit and started taking her meds again, but it wasn’t long before she stopped w/the meds and started smoking again. She committed suicide in 2002, and while I don’t think it was the weed alone that drove her to it, I DO believe it was a contributing factor. It’s a shame because she was a sweet, beautiful girl and at 19, had her whole life in front of her.
I am so sorry, jaye. You must miss her so much.
I’m so sorry to hear that jaye.
@Francesca…I really, really do.
Please. No more pets for her, no matter what is wrong with her. I’m still all 🙁 about the last one. Glad she’s better though.
It could be weed . Here doctor found a relation between early mental troubles and kids who begun to smoke weed early (10 to 15 if my memory serves me right.). Weed is more pure today than it was twenty to ten years ago. I think it goes from less than 10% to little more than 30%.
This?
There have been reports of people experiencing these psychotic symptoms after smoking a lot of marijuana or more marijuana than they are used to. This is rare and the symptoms, although frightening at the time, usually go away if use of marijuana is stopped. Marijuana has been shown to make psychotic symptoms worse in those who already have a psychotic disorder such as schizophrenia.
Some claim that marijuana can cause schizophrenia. Multiple studies have found that, in particular, using cannabis during adolescence increases the likelihood of experiencing symptoms of schizophrenia in adulthood (Arseneault et al., 2002; Parakh & Basu, 2013). Evidence suggests that marijuana may somehow trigger schizophrenia in those who are already at risk of developing the disorder, though this connection is not conclusive (Parakh & Basu, 2013; Bloomfield et al., 2013). Those with a vulnerability to develop schizophrenia, such as having a family history of the illness, should be strongly advised against using marijuana for this reason.
Although results are mixed, there is some research to suggest that marijuana use in adolescence, particularly frequent or heavy use, is associated with the development of anxiety disorder in young adulthood (Degenhardt et al., 2013). Studies have also found that frequent cannabis use in teenagers predicts depression, as well as anxiety disorder, later in life as well, with daily users carrying the highest risk. Young women appear to be more likely to experience this effect (Patton et al., 2002). –
http://adai.uw.edu/marijuana/factsheets/mentalhealth.htm
Except that she’s 28 years old and they said she’s not schizophrenic.
It proves correlation, not causation. For all we know, these were anxious teens self-medicating.
Yeah, but the opposite may also be true. I was diagnosed with chronic depression and an anxiety disorder when I was 8 years old. I have insomnia as a result. I started smoking weed when I was 18 to help me sleep and I do much better with this method than sleeping pills, which leave me groggy until noon. I haven’t had a full-blown anxiety attack in years despite near-daily use. Generally speaking, the same psychoactive substance can do opposite things to different people. This is why SSRI’s prescribed for depression are required to carry a black box warning for risk of suicidal feelings. For some people, a medication improves their brain chemistry enough to help them feel better. Other people are driven to suicide. This would explain the conflicting evidence regarding marijuana. Brain chemistry differs greatly among people.
Which is EXACTLY why cannabis needs to be removed from the Class 1 controlled Substance list~so that further, legitimate, controlled experimentation can be conducted to get a more accurate picture. People are going to smoke it/eat it ANYWAY, obviously the attempted prohibition of it has CREATED most of the adverse circumstances around it to begin with. Of course you can be somewhat paranoid if you are using something that causes so many potential legal consequences. On the other hand, to try and outright declare that across the board pot has NO potential adverse consequences is reckless and dangerous. It is a matter of body chemistry and mental status, which is different for everyone, and needs to be evaluated for personal effects in a safe, non-threatening, controlled environment due to its psychoactive properties. As ANY chemical with potential psycho-active effects should be evaluated. Check out the vaults of Erowid or the Lycaeum for more information.
I agree that mj needs to be removed from schedule 1. After all, those studies are all corelational and not actually scientific, because we aren’t allowed to actually research schedule 1s.
Here is the thing: TMZ can be called a rag and this and that but they DO have tons of sources in Police forces and hospitals, so I believe that she has mental issues I also believe she is more cognizant than Britney if she can be out there going to school etc, I dont know why her mom would take her off meds that have clearly stabilized her or put out such a statement… It could well be to not embarrass her, seeing as how she is trying to get back out there etc, I mean think about how stigmatized Mental illness is, what young person wants to be carrying around those labels?
But I scoff at the notion that weed did this, seriously If you wanted to say LSD or Meth? Sure… Then again lets remember her parents kept giving interviews about how she wasnt on drugs or drinking when it was pretty clear she was
I think you’re right — it’s an image thing. I just hope they aren’t trying to push her back into working full time already. That would be nuts. It hasn’t even been a year.
Now that you said work it got me thinking: Insurance purposes? Idk She doesnt seem to want to be into acting, I just feel like her mom could conceivably be cutting a deal with her as far as self care etc, you know? Cause That really wasnt “just Pot, NBD, Ya’ll” Amanda was seriously going off the rails, facial tics and getting kicked out of places included
TMZ has more than sources…they plant bugs aka tiny microphones. They found some hidden on the judge’s bench and behind each lawyer during a case about Steve Wonder being extorted.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/tmz-sued-placing-hidden-microphones-432279
The mom’s statement about weed isn’t surprising. When all of it started and she’d already had obvious problems with alcohol, her dad was in constant denial and excuse mode. I’m happy that she seems to be better and that she’s still getting treatment. There may not be schizophrenia, but obviously the poor girl is struggling with something.
Well, I have no idea what happened but I hope she continues to recover. Good luck to her.
My friends brother went crazy because of Cannabis
Right now, it looks shady because TMZ is so vehement that she has severe mental illness. So, no matter what they say, people will think the Byneses look a bit off themselves.
I think if she DOES have a mental illness, it’s very dangerous to whitewash that illness.
I agree. I don’t like how they speak as if she has no issues and has no need of medication, as if medication is a bad thing. Bynes had a SEVERE psychotic episode, she should be on some sort of stabilizing medication. I don’t like the stigmatization of mental illness in this statement, at all. It’s not embarrassing to either have a mental illness or to be on medication for it.
Seems like she has solid, loving parents who are more interested in their daughter rather than making money off of her.
Good luck to the whole family.
She looks great.
Her parents always look so old and clueless.
I am a mental health nurse and I don’t believe for a minute that she is not medicated. The extent of her previous behavior is highly indicative of severe, organic mental illness. This may have been “exacerbated” by marijuana, but it was definitely not the causative agent. She was clearly actively psychotic previous to her hospitalization. To obtain an extended conservatorship, such as her parent received, the patient must be an imminent danger to self or others. It is extremely hard to obtain these psychiatric holds (particularly one lasting for more than just a couple of days), and “using weed” would not even begin to approach the level of justifying such a hold. I would believe that she is severely bipolar and/or schizophrenic. It is relatively rare for bipolar mania to approach the level of psychosis. It seems much more likely that she has a mixed diagnosis. The only “real” control for either of those diseases is medication. Given her pre-hospitalization behavior and her post-hospitalization turn-around, I believe she was, and continues to be, medicated. I sincerely hope her family does not decide that she is “better” and pull her off her meds. If that is the case, she will definitely relapse.
Thanks for your opinion, Matty.
+1
Agreed, great post.
I said that a few minutes ago, but you beat me to it MattyLove. You can’t get an extended psych hold without 2 doctors concurring on a psychiatric need for that hold.
Well said Matty. I am a LIcensed Acupuncturist, have extensively smoked pot in my life even though I don’t smoke it now, and concur with your assessment. There is NO WAY that there is not some underlying mental disorder that suddenly went away with just rest and sunshine. Intervention was clearly necessary long before it actually happened, and for her team to be putting the blame on mota is irresponsible, misleading, and shifting blame from their own lack of action. Absolutely pot can exacerbate mental conditions~good or bad. Sometimes, people don’t realize they have mental disorders UNTIL a triggering event like ingesting a psychoactive substance (including pot, psilocybin mushrooms, LSD, DMT, MDA, MDMA, and the research chemical alphabet) can bring to light. Did these substances CAUSE the mental issue? Most likely not, they just open the psyche to examination and can strip away protective barriers the mind has shielded itself with. I highly (!!) recommend checking out the Vaults of Erowid or the Lycaeum for accurate, scientific, and anecdotal information about chemicals and their effects on the human body.
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I’ve worked in the mental health field as well and I absolutely agree with you.
I wish her well
A bad batch of weed can definitely screw you up big time. My brother smoked weed on a regular and never had an issue. One day he must of got a bad batch and he just lost it. Extreme paranoia, insomnia, and a suicide attempt. He had to be hospitalized over it. It took him awhile to recover. Not saying that this is what went down with her but it could happen.
This, totally. I have been smoking cannabis regularly for 7 years. Only once, ever did I get a bad batch. I think it was laced with crack or something, it was from a questionable source too. The intense panic it brought on was like nothing I’ve ever felt (and trust me, I’ve had plenty of anxiety attacks in my life, this was different). The sense of dread was unbearable, I thought I was dying. It only lasted for an hour but I’ve never bought cheap weed again. I’ve never had a problem with high quality dro. It isn’t surprising – cheap weed is smuggled in from Mexico in all kinds of weird ways, including in gasoline tanks. It comes into contact with nasty chemicals and pesticides that aren’t even legal in the U.S. It’s like factory grown veggies versus organic.
Amanda lied down in a stranger’s driveway, poured gasoline all over herself, and tried to set herself on fire. That sounds like mental illness to me.
I don’t believe for a second that she doesn’t have a mental disorder. Her behavior last year was nothing short of CRAZY. I don’t know why her PR team feels the need to lie about her mental status.
With that said, I’m glad that she’s doing better and hope that she continues on this path.
I just can’t imagine being Amanda, Britney, or any other celebrity going through mental issues and having the whole world knowing my business.
There is nothing to be ashamed of, but how are they supposed to heal when every aspect of their condition, treatment, behaviour is reported on every media site?
As much as I would like the perks of being a celeb, the downsides do not make it worth it. Greatful for my boring life
I agree with you. Why is someone from Amanda’s family leaking this? At this point, I’m of the opinion that what’s going on with her is a lot more than just effects of weed.
+1
TMZ is the worst. I think they either have leaks in the hospital system or bugs. They found a TMZ bug (microphone) in the LA courthouse a year ago during a hearing about Stevie Wonder being extorted. There were tiny microphone stuck to the judge’s bench and on books behind both lawyers.
Her secret/second Twitter handle would suggest otherwise …
Link?
https://twitter.com/PersianLa27
There’s a photo of Amanda on it as well.
A very big part of her treatment should be to stay off twitter. Has she learned nothing?
this could be anyone! nonsense.
If she does have a mental health issue then I won’t criticize her for not talking about it openly or trying to cover up. Mental deceases still have a lot of stigma and more importantly it’s really upto the patient to discuss or not discuss when they are ready and choose to do so.
What she was doing was definitely not normal and I hope she is getting all the help and treatment she needs.
Except that this is stigmatizing pot. I realize the potential consequences in youth and the expedited onset of certain mental health diseases, but even though we have progressed politically in regard to pot, people’s lives have historically been ruined by being busted for it. We don’t need to return to narratives of “reefer madness”.
+1.
Don’t ruin it for the rest of us who are mentally sound, responsible weed smokers who only buy organic and locally-grown.
+1, to both Kiddo and TheOriginalKitten
Exactly! As a mother whose daughter suffers from intractable epilepsy and is fighting to get this legalized not only for better research but for my daughter and others like her to have at least a option to try it medically I freaking hate clueless people making statements like this.
I agree with everyone! I do think it is reasonable that people would want to keep their mental health details private. I have no love for sites like TMZ who release information regarding celebrity’s health matters.
I also agree with Kiddo that their statements stigmatize pot with out facts to back it up and that so many lives have been ruined because of the rumored evil nature of the drug.
Of course, I also agree with TOK on her preference for local and organic! Yay for quality!
I wish there wasn’t such a stigma associated with mental illness 🙁 I’ve suffered from severe anxiety, depression, and obsessive compulsive disorder from a young age, to the point where I’ve had to be hospitalized. I’m so lucky to have had my family there to help me through it, my life would’ve been sent into a tailspin without them. Amanda has a good support system and she seems to be doing well! Best wishes to her, I hope she continues to get better
There shouldn’t be a stigma. Mental illness and disorders are what they are. Illnesses and disorders. A person can no more help being diagnosed with one than being diagnosed with any other illness or disorder.
After her behavior and the shallow mean and crazy things she said last year it would be better to blame a mental disorder even if that wasn’t the case. So instead of pitying her now I just think she is/was truly an a**hole that smoked too much and became uninhibited.
+1
Wasn’t there talk about her parents being typical stage parents & her Dad saying it was ok they knew what they were doing with her career (meanwhile she was missing out on a childhood)?
I really think she has some kind of mental illness. Maybe not schizophrenia, but something. Pot alone doesn’t make people crazy, in fact it usually mellows people out. The only other explanation I can think of is if she was combining drugs with alcohol. That can be extremely dangerous.
Given that she was rumored to be both bi-polar and schizophrenic, and the lawyer only denied that she is schizophrenic, I would bet that she is bi-polar. I am surprised that she is not on medication though. Perhaps with therapy and quitting drugs she stabilized enough.
So why announce anything?
Because they don’t want people to think their daughter’s a nutjob. That’s my take, anyway. My dad never wanted to hear his children were less than perfect, and perhaps her parents are like that.
Oh brother.
I’m sure being in extreme denial will be very helpful for their daughter.
I have a question. My dad smoked weed for well over 30 years and I noticed that he becomes very different after. The last time he got a gun and threatened to kill us after beating in my mom and me for pepperspraying him so he’d stop. Could it be that he’s mentally ill or is there something in the weed?
BTW, I moved my mom and sis out to another state and I live on my own and I see a counselor to deal.
I hope you are okay now, and I’m glad you got away, no matter the cause.
T m z is reporting that her mom has discontinued her meds because she hasn’t had a psychotic episode in months. It’s very common for patients and their families to attribute the mental stability to health rather than the medication. It’s very sad but it will be part of the process of the family learning to manage the disease(s). If they can really minimize her stressors, she may do “okay” for awhile, but she will eventually relapse. Medication is the only truly effective treatment. Cognitive behavioral therapy in the instance of bipolar and schizophrenia is really limited to helping the patient recognize their progression to psychosis so that they can seek out hospitalization. Cognitive behavioral therapy alone cannot control these particular diseases. It sounds like this family is just going through a somewhat typical learning process. 🙁
If it’s true that she’s schizophrenic and/or bipolar and her parents took her off her medication and are denying everything simply for image reasons, that’s disgusting. I wish her well. It can’t be easy to have such private, delicate business dragged in public. I was kind of impressed with her that she stayed in treatment for so long and returned to school instead of staging a “comeback” five minutes later.
-coughs loudly- Bullshit.
Her mom took her off of her medications because she blames marijuana for Amanda’s behavior. This is not going to end well. So sad when parents can’t accept their child for who they are. Her mother’s ignorance is stigmatizing mental illness, now in a public manner. Ridiculous.
Do you have any CLUE as to what a lot of those psychotropic drugs can do? Good for her mom for NOT putting her on that shit! There are other ways to help a kid that doesn’t involve a drug with horrible side effects that is only being pushed because Big Pharma and the doctors pushing them want to make millions of the public for medicines that do more harm than good. Try everything else FIRST and only medicate as a last resort. If she’s doing this well now, her mom obviously did the right thing.
She is likely doing this well BECAUSE of the medication. Just wait and see what happens within the first few months of her being off of it. Conditions such as Bipolar and Schizophrenia have ORGANIC causes–basically the brain is malfunctioning just as in Heart Failure the heart is malfunctioning. Medications are needed to correct or control the malfunctioning. In Bipolar disorder, it is believed that the individual has an excess of calcium channels that allow the neurons to fire more rapidly than in a “normal” person. The ONLY effective control for Bipolar is medication that reduces the excessive neuronal firing (mood stabilizers such as lithium, especially). Just as poor parenting does not CAUSE Bipolar or Schizophrenia, neither does good parenting reverse it.
My uncle is schizophrenic, and I have a “clue” what psychotropic drugs can do: make him able to have a normal, healthy life with normal relationships with people he doesn’t terrify.
The brain is a physical entity. It is not separate from the body. There are some drugs that are pushed hard by the pharmaceutical companies and way overprescribed — opiate painkillers are #1 on that list. But someone with a mental disorder for which it is indicated taking the appropriate drug is no different from a diabetic taking insulin. They are necessary to health.
You’re an idiot. I was going to go on a rant about how I suffered miserably from depression over the years, an the only thing that snapped me out of that shit was getting on a regular medication, but I’m not going into anymore detail. You’re just an idiot.
She’s doing well because she got on a routine of medication. When someone is that deep into whatever mental illness that they’re dealing with, you don’t have time to try everything. Not all drugs give everyone a laundry list of side effects. I had very minimal ones.
Weed is often laced with PCP – one of the drugs from Hell.
I had some of that once. One of the freakiest (and not in a good way) experiences of my life.
Exactly why I shop local.
^^smart
She seemed very erratic…could be the weed plus some mental inestabilty who knows.
In my period of smoking too much weed I dindt act erratic per se, but my life went south. I became very disorganized, I droped my college graduation project because I couldnt concetrate and extremely lazy that I didnt do the work. I was all day smoking weed and not going to clases, wasting time and sometimes paranoid. My family also discovered it and they got hurt so It really affected my life. Im happy I dont do it anymore, only when I go to the beach maybe or in very rare social relaxing with friends situation, but never again as an everyday thing.
Well, being diagnosed with Schizophernia is a huge deal. Also, there a many, many different diagnoses, where the patient exhibits psychotic/schizophrenic symptoms, but the actual diagnosis is something else, so it could be the lawyer doing what he´s best at: twisting around words.
I am truly happy for Ms. bynes, but nobody is buying the “it was the pot that made me do it”. If anything, she was self medicating with pot. Best just not to say anything and stay on course.
In other words for insurance purposes please don’t call my client mentally ill because no one will hire her. That’s what he’s saying really, trying to cool down the weirdness of her actions last year.It makes sense, she was a big TV star and had some movies, and may want to get back into that. High insurance costs would make most productions shy away from her, eg Lohan.
Personally, I believe her family got to her just in time. I’m glad they did. She’s living with her parents again and is enrolled in school and is doing well. She’s doing well because now she gets to grow up in the manner she never go to to begin with. She’s re-learning how to live life in the most normal way – the same way the rest of is did. Live with parents, go to school, make something of yourself and get on the right track to being a productive citizen. As far as the pot – the pot of today is not like it was when we were growing up in the mid-nineties and before. Today they put all kinds of shit in pot to make a “better” high or a “more powerful” high and yeah, I can totally see how that would have something to do with her erratic behavior. I am team Amanda, y’all. I hope she makes it and doesn’t turn out to be another Disney Statistic.
I think it’s likely marijuana use was a factor in her breakdown. While I think legalization is necessary, about half of the pot smokers I know are using it to self-medicate (and almost all of my friends are pot smokers). It’s great that for some people it can be light and recreational, but like any mind-altering substance, there truly are terrible consequences for some people. It ruined my uncle’s life, truly ruined it, and it has taken an enormous toll on my sibling’s life. It became a coping mechanism which made things fine for five minutes, but overall increased anxiety, fear of the outside world, and reluctance to leave the house, and was part of several breakdowns which were heartbreaking to witness. The problems preceded the drug, but the drug exacerbated the problems. Temporary self-medication prevented long-term treatment.
Again, we should legalize it immediately and declare amnesty for all past users, and should be treating harder drug users with rehab rather than jail time. But we shouldn’t swing entirely in the other direction; just like alcohol, weed can and does exacerbate sleeping issues. It’d be great to live in a world where people were more rested, had stronger communities, and felt more fulfilled so they didn’t turn to substances to ease their pain. I wish Amanda all the peace in the world, and only hope my own sibling can make a similar recovery. I hope, anyway.
People are too blasé about regular and frequent weed smoking. It is more than fine to do recreationally as an adult but if you are doing it regularly from a very young age it really can mess you up the way Amanda was messed up. I have 2 friends who started it at 13 and both had complete breakdowns by the time they were 25.
Again, I have no problems myself or others smoking it just try and wait until your brain stops developing.
+1
Weed and alcohol are fine in moderation, but when they’re being used to self medicate it’s a problem. I enjoy marijuana recreationally, but I cannot drink. I have plenty of friends who binge drink and think its great fun, but alcohol can make me quite cruel and often for days after I’ll feel depressed. I’ve had to learn the hard way that I can only have 1-2 drinks and I cannot touch hard liquor.
I have read articles regarding bi-polar disorder and some articles have had some medical studies on people who did not have any previous mental disorders, but after smoking weed, did have schizophrenic and bi-polar tendencies.
Here’s one that I read: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2811144/
Some articles that I’ve read said that after treatment with medication, the disorders did go away, so it did appeared that the weed they smoked did have an effect on these particular patients. They said it doesn’t occur all of the time to all people who smoke weed, but in some cases it does happen. Not everyone can handle doing drugs. And even though people believe Marijuana is harmless, it is still a drug and does still have different effects on different people. Plus, with the kind of money she had, it’s more likely she was smoking the craziest weed money can buy, so I wouldn’t doubt that’s what was happening to her. At least she’s getting better.
I read the article you posted, and while it does say that cannabis use appears to be a contributing factor to a psychotic break in some individuals, it also states that the cannabis appears to have merely exaggerated personality characteristics that were already present. Furthermore, this particular article does not state that the medications were discontinued and a full recovery made, but rather the medications controlled the disorder to the point of the patient being asymptomatic and that the patient continued on the medications. This fits with the conventionally-held approach that the patient has an either identified or unidentified genetic predisposition and that the cannabis use may be a contributing factor to the actual psychotic break.
do you think her mom is saying this because she fears that if her daughter is publicly defined as mentally ill that she’ll have trouble getting work in the future? she wants to keep that window open for amanda if in the future she wants to work in the industry again?
Notice there is no denial of being bipolar only schizophrenic. She could be under outpatient therapy treatment for the disorder and no meds. I personally wouldn’t go that route but everyone handles things differently. Being bipolar myself I choose therapy AND meds. At least her parents are looking out for her. And doing any kind of recreational drug or drinking or even abusing prescriptions is normal behavior for a bipolar person but also can be very detrimental. I wonder if that’s why she’s been weed free?
Its her business to disclose, of course, but that behavior is textbook schizophrenia. I suppose bipolar could be possible, she didn’t deny that. But bipolar is typically treated with meds, too, esp when it has bouts of psychosis. I can’t imagine why they are denying it when the masses are going to jump to “druggie” and “burnout” accusations. I am glad she’s doing better and I hope the worst is behind her.
doubt marijuana was the main culprit. my guess is she was taking/ snorting all kinds of pharmaceuticals. i’d put adderall or ritalin at the top of the list..
bah. maybe she was just high on the attention. happens to the best of us.