Mischa Barton made her first tenuous public appearance since being released from the psychiatric ward of Cedars- Sinai. She showed up to the Cooper Union Hotel in New York for an All Points West celebration. She stuck to water all night, and wore a pretty bizarre dress. But other than her attire, she seemed to be doing well.

Despite having been hospitalized following a mysterious breakdown only a few weeks ago, Mischa Barton insists to OK!, “I’m feeling great! I’m really happy.”

Speaking exclusively to OK! on Sunday night at the Arizona Ice Tea-sponsored party for Music Unites, the controversial actress revealed that filming on her new movie [sic – TV show] The Beautiful Life is, “Going really well… I’m excited.”

For most of the evening, Mischa sat snuggled up on a sofa at the Cooper Union Hotel, drinking water and talking to a male party-goer. Around 10:40pm, Mischa and a gal-pal exited the party to “go home to watch True Blood.”

Said one fellow guest to OK! about Mischa’s behavior, “She seemed to be in a good mood. She was smiling and appeared to be genuinely happy.”

[From OK!]

While her dress is strange, it’s also characteristically strange, which is sort of a good thing. If Mischa were wearing something dull or common – say a little black dress – then I’d worry something was still wrong. But her “funky” attire (I’m going to be nice here) is part of her persona, and I think it’s a good sign she’s doing well enough to still express herself that way.

Mischa’s got a sober companion with her, according to In Touch. They claim she’s more worried about her career than her addiction issues, so instead of going into treatment, she’s doing an outpatient program.

While the friend thinks Mischa, 23, should be heading to rehab, the pal fears she’s more concerned with saving her career. On July 31, Mischa is supposed to report to the set of the new TV series “The Beautiful Life,” so a stint in treatment could be “a violation of her contract” if she didn’t report to work, the friend says. “The producers have put her on probation. Any more missteps won’t be tolerated.”

Instead of rehab, Mischa is in an outpatient program and has a sober companion. “She thinks it’s silly,” her friend explains, “but she doesn’t have a choice.”

[From In Touch, Aug. 10, 2009, print ed.]

I’d agree with Mischa that it’s silly – she should be in rehab. The fact that she’s doing something halfway (but still good) like a sober companion and still complaining that it’s silly makes that evident.

If Mischa needs proof that she should take her addiction and mental health issues seriously, she should take a look at these pictures from last month. Now look at the picture of her last night and the shots from this weekend. True, the dress is still crazy. But look how much better she already looks? Less bloated, fewer crazy facial expressions, eyeballs not all round and freaky. Right there is a good reason. If her mental and physical health isn’t enough of an incentive, maybe her vanity is.