Doctors Reportedly Think Amanda Bynes Has Schizophrenic Tendencies

Details from Amanda Bynes’ seventy-two hour psychiatric hold are starting to leak out, and if true, they paint the picture of a situation that’s every bit as bizarre as it is dangerous. Apparently, the actress is behaving normally for long stretches and erratically for short stretches, which would seem to explain why she’s both aroused so much controversy and continued to pay her rent and show up to court over the past year or so.

According to TMZ, Bynes was originally placed with a roommate, but she allegedly yelled at the poor girl so much she was eventually transferred into her own room. More often than not when interacting with doctors, she’s apparently been extremely lucid and friendly, but on a couple of random occasions, she has allegedly lost it and become extremely aggressive, especially when asked about the fire she started and told her dog was staying with her parents.

As for a diagnosis, no firm ruling has been made yet, but doctors are allegedly convinced she has schizophrenic tendencies along with a severe mental illness. Since checking into the facility, Bynes has reportedy spoken of a good Amanda and a bad Amanda, which would seem to point the finger at some kind of dissociative personality issue or at the very least a deep-rooted bipolar disorder problem, especially since the results of her drug test reportedly only showed marijuana use.

Questions about Bynes’ mental state first began after a series of car accidents and run-ins with the law over her driving. After having her license suspended, she moved to New York and was promptly kicked out of several apartment buildings, allegedly for smoking pot in the lobbies. At the same time, her Twitter account started getting weirder and weirder, and the general public’s reaction started changing from amusement to compassion.

Earlier this week, she was placed on a 5150 psychiatric hold after allegedly starting a fire in the middle of an elderly woman’s driveway, and she’s remained locked up ever since. Her parents are currently trying to get their daughter placed under a conservatorship, but with a rocky history between them, it’s unclear whether a judge will grant the motion, though clearly something needs to be done now before the problem gets even worse.

No one likes being away from home, and no one likes having his or her freedom restricted. As such, there’s nothing fun about being placed on a psych hold, but that doesn’t mean the stay can’t be beneficial. Bynes needs a fresh start. She needs someone to hit the reset button, and I think I speak for all of her fans when I say I hope she gets the help she needs and deserves right now. She’s young enough and talented enough that she can still find plenty of redemption in the movie business.