Life and Style is reporting that Lindsay Lohan may have finally taken an important step towards not dying. I’m not going to say towards getting her life back together because that’s a long road for her. But she may have at least decided to take an important first step: according to the magazine, she’s in counseling. They also claim that Michael Lohan releasing all those mortifying tapes of Lindsay is what got her to do something. And they’re giving him credit. A truly chilling thought.

Lindsay Lohan’s father has won the battle to get his daughter into counseling – the actress is reportedly meeting with a mentor up to three times a week.

Michael Lohan leaked taped recordings of phone calls he’d had with his daughter in a last-ditch bid to get her to enter rehab and kick an alleged addiction to prescription drugs. The plan backfired when Lohan and his ex-wife Dina staged a public campaign to vilify the worried dad for his actions. He has since promised not to leak anymore recordings.

However, it seems his efforts have driven Lindsay to a counselor.

A source tells Life & Style magazine, “She goes two, sometimes three times a week. This is not a program or substance-abuse counselor or police officer watching over her; it’s someone to talk to in a confidential state.”

“She knows, and everyone knows, this is a huge stepping-stone for her – get in there, talk to someone, figure out what’s going on and then try to fix it. First comes the diagnosis.”

[From Starpulse]

I can give you a diagnosis right now: cray-to-the-Z. I wonder what axis that goes on in the DSM-IV? There’s probably a whole separate Lohan section in there. If this story is true – and let’s keep in mind, the original source is Life and Style, so it should be taken with a grain of salt – but if it’s true, it’s hard to wonder if it was worth it. There are so many better, more mature, parental, rationale, supportive ways to get your messed up child some help. Publicly embarrassing her and releasing all sorts of super private information is not the way to do it. The relationship between Lindsay and Michael – whatever it was – will never be healed now. It likely never would have been anyway, but now there’s no chance. He’s proven without a doubt that there is nothing he won’t do.

But if Lindsay is in counseling, at least that’s something. I’m not saying in any way that Michael did what was right or what he had to do. It’s inexcusable. So I’m going to pretend that if Lindsay’s in rehab, it’s because she came to some realizations all on her own, completely apart from Michael. Because he absolutely should not get what he wants as a reward for behaving that way.