Ok, Crispin, I will TRY to play. but clearly you are a great debater so at the risk of embarrassing myself, here goes...
Let me first off say I am a HUGE Birtney supporter. LOVE. THAT. GIRL. and only wish the best for her. I was so nervous about her breaking off her engagement and hate to see what is to come in the aftermath.
We can agree for the moment that she has bipolar. I am not saying bipolar is not serious, because I know first hand that it is. I have family members who struggle with this illness. HOWEVER, what makes me think it could be something more serious is the fact that my family members have never shown ANY side affects she has shown to the public, even without medication. I believe if it was SOLELY bipolar they would have come out long ago and stated that. If not that, she or someone else in her entourage would have written a tell all about her experiences.
It is upsetting at the change of her demeanor. I miss the old Britney (prior to 2007). She is robotic and can be compared to Dick Clark after his stroke (RIP). It is disheartening that whatever medication she is on because it is not the right one. If you are being medicated properly you do not act so stoic.
I hope that she only goes up from here and am keeping my fingers crossed that no meltdown will occur. But deep down I fear one is looming!
BB,
Thanks for the kind words. Lets change this from a debate to a discussion. Especially since we are talking about something others consider me an expert in.
1. I love BS too. I was saddened watching that chain of events unfold. I was constantly cursing at the TV at the time. Yelling, "somebody commit this poor girl before she kills herself!" If she was not a celebrity she would have been arrested and hospitalized for help a lot earlier.
2. You are right, it could be something more serious. My biggest concern is that it is schizo-affective disorder. This is a combination of bipolar and schizophrenia. It is ridiculousy hard to treat. However, that is just a guess. I have seen no evidence on this through the media. If this was the case the family would be VERY protective in hiding it.
3. There are many different forms of bipolar. Severity is extremelly variable. For the most part, you are right on the medications. She should not look that robotic and dare I say it, "zombie-like." However, there are some bipolars that are so severe this is the best course of medicine. Being that this was her first public break and how successful she was prior...doctors should be able to do better then this.
4. Lets assume she is schizoaffective disorder. Unfortunately, her prodromal syndromes would fit the demographics for this as well. Schizophrenia is an entirely different beast. A large percentage of schizophrenics will have their first break and NEVER be the same (about 1/3.) These patients will always have symptoms and live very low functioning lives. On the other side, about 1/3 of schizophrenics will have a break, get on medication, STAY on medication, and go back to living totally normal lives. The other third of schizophrenics is in the middle. They return to functioning lives but are never quite the same. If SAD(schizoaffective ds.) is the correct diagnosis then this is where BS would fall into.
-In this case, it is not the medications that are making her robotic entirely by themselves. It is also due to gross dysfunction in the mesolimbic system of the brain.
-However, keeping her constantly medicated may save what is left of her. Every time an 'episode' happens there is massive damage that can be done to the brain. Most schizophrenics stop their medication at some point in time. When they do...they relapse. When they relapse...more damage. With more damage they are more likely to fall into the category of the first third we talked about.
-To sum up: Her very career may hang on the balance of the right medication regimen.
5. Lets assume that BS has had multiple opinions from several of the best doctors.
6. Given that her father is still the fiduciary after 6 years, something is seriously wrong. Judges do not take away people's rights to manage money lightly, especially for that long.
7. Remember, I have never examined her. This is all theoretical. The media also slants things...who knows what truth we are getting.
8. Despite all that, she made 15 million for one year of work on Dano's favorite show. They are doing something right.
Shall we continue with the original question about if the episode will repeat or leave things at this?
Your admirer,
Crispin
