Britney, Mental Illness and Lay Interpretation

Britney, Britney, Britney! In the last few months I have read articles claiming that Britney Spears is suffering from everything from drug addiction to multiple personalities. If you were to believe everything you read you would conclude that she is bi-polar, ADHD, psychotic, dissociative, narcissistic, depressed, suicidal, homicidal, alcoholic and a child abuser.

One thing I am sure of is that no one other than her own trained, professional, therapist can say for sure what is going on with her. And as far as I know, she doesn't have one.

It's curious how quickly lay people ascribe professional diagnosis to others. Everyone wants to believe that they are capable of diagnosing people with mental illness. If that were true it wouldn't take at least 7 years of college education and 2 years of a full time internship before therapists were able to do so.

I had a friend who, while divorcing her husband, began to tell everyone she knew that her husband had bi-polar disorder. He didn't. In fact he had never even been to a therapist and he didn't have the symptoms necessary for diagnosis. But she was sure of it, and so the rumor was spread around her small town.

Even insurance company employees want to believe that they have the ability to correctly diagnose patients they have only met on paper. I know a woman who has suffered with bi-polar disorder and psychosis for most of her adult life. She has a strong family history of the illness and all of the troubling symptoms that keep her from functioning in life. And yet her attempts to be granted Social Security Insurance have been denied over and over again. Her neighbor is a drug addict who was approved for Social Security the first time he applied - stating that his drug addiction kept him from keeping a job.

Mental Illness is a complex and often perplexing state of mind. Sometimes Its symptoms are easily noticed, more often they are not. Britney may be suffering from some form of mental illness, but unless and until the public is made aware of a specific illness it is senseless to speculate and cruel to arbitrarily assign a diagnosis.

Is ADHD, ADD Real?

Many of you have heard by now that the latest research has shown that as many as 85% of all children in the USA that have been diagnosed with ADD or ADHD (Attention Deficit Disorder and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) have been misdiagnosed. Consequently, thousands of our school age children have been given harsh, addictive drugs for years. For many of them, once they have grown to adulthood, feel they have little choice but to begin using illegal drugs like cocaine to maintain their habit.

We are raising a generation of drug dependent people who have a defeatist, victim attitude about life in general. Instead of growing up clear-headed and optimistic about life, they were being misdiagnosed for years, ingesting drugs that they didn't need. Their brains have been soaked in a chemical brine that can cause all kinds of other problems. Often they take on a victim role and they use their "diagnosis" as a way to avoid social, academic and occupational success.

The good news is that there are now definitive medical tests that can be done to determine once and for all if someone has ADD or ADHD. The unpleasant news is that most of those tested are found not to have either illness. How is that unpleasant you ask?

Well, suddenly realizing that your child has been ingesting powerful, mind altering drugs, can devastate even the most forgiving parent. And there is the original issue that still needs to be addressed; "What is the cause of my child's poor behavior?"

Being mature and sophisticated enough to accept that family dynamics may have started this whole ball rolling is difficult to assimilate. Most people want to blame someone else instead of looking at the obvious especially when it means taking some of the responsibility for the problem.

Who is the best patent here? The one who refuses to look at the truth or the parent who is willing to took around every corner to find all the pieced to this complicated puzzle?

For more information google Dr. Frank Lawless, a world leader regarding ADHD and ADD.