Amanda Bynes had her own Nickelodeon show as a teenager and starred in a variety of hit comedies, but the 28-year-old actress has become more infamous for her erratic behavior than for her resume. Bynes was released from a psychiatric facility on Oct. 30, and revealed today that she has bipolar disorder and is currently taking medication and seeing a psychiatrist.
“I was diagnosed bipolar and manic depressive so I’m on medication and I’m seeing my psychologist and psychiatrist weekly so I’m fine,” she wrote on her official Twitter account on Tuesday.
Bynes also mentioned that, while a temporary conservatorship gives her mother Lynn control over her medical and financial decisions until next February, she is actively trying to fight for control of her own funds.
“I need to get an apartment and my parents won’t give me access to any of my funds. I’m not living with my parents… I’m not legally obligated to,” she tweeted. “My lawyer said if I comply with the courts and take my meds and see my psychologist and pyshchiatrist weekly then I will get unconserved… Thank GOD.”
Bynes has been acting erratically for over a year, and sources say that her parents “feel helpless.” However, psychologist Dr. Jay Carter told People that, outside of taking medication and seeing a therapist, there’s little anyone can do to keep the actress from acting out.
“As long as she’s not an immediate danger to herself or others, there’s nothing much that anyone can do,” said Carter. “That’s the biggest anxiety for parents.”
Terry Wasserman, a Los Angeles lawyer who specializes in mental health, told People that “the only way to really protect Amanda would be if a designated clinician writes a new 5150 three-day psychiatric hold” which would force the star back into a hospital or facility, since the conservatorship over Bynes gives her mother “no psychiatric powers.”
Leave a Reply