06 Oct 2014 09:47
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I'm just going to be frank here and admit I don't know what I find more troubling: that Amanda Bynes has apparently fallen back down the rabbit hole of her mental illness while off her medication, or the fact that a lot of people out there thought she was 'cured' or 'recovering' from her mental illness. That's not to say I wasn't just as hopeful as the next person that Amanda would continue taking care of herself and stay as healthy as possible - mentally, physically, emotionally…all of it. But I also wasn't surprised to learn of her DUI this week, her expulsion from fashion school, and, most recently, her erratic and troubling behavior at LAX yesterday. Take a look at the photo and see for yourself - she's sick. And she always will be. That doesn't mean things are hopeless for Amanda, and I'm not saying we should always expect the worst case scenario here. I'm just saying that even when she's genuinely doing really well, that doesn't mean her mental illness no longer exists. It simply does not work that way.
Once she finally received the psychiatric help she needed in terms of her hospital stay and proper medication, plus her parental conservatorship, it seemed as though things were going well for her and she was on the road to a healthier, happier Amanda who was able to understand her condition (I don't believe her diagnosis was ever released or that it's necessarily our business, but I do think it's fair to speculate/assume she's battling one or more mental illness disorders) and also understand what it takes to keep herself as healthy as possible. Unfortunately, all it takes is something as seemingly small as going off meds for a bit or being present in unstable situations for people like Amanda to derail again.
The bottom line here is that mental illness isn't something you can cure. I think even using the word "recovery" in situations like this can be misleading. Reading comments like "Oh that's too bad, I thought she was all better" just reinforces the fact that continuing mental illness education/awareness/dialogues is so incredibly important. Because it doesn't matter how much her parents love her or how many positive resources she has at her disposal. I know this from personal experience as the daughter of a mentally ill parent and also as a person who has struggled with depression. Amanda is battling a condition that can't be cured or fixed. But hopefully, she finds a way to cope with it in order to get back on track to loving herself. And that's all we can really hope for right now.
(Image: WENN.com)
You can reach this post's author, Cassandra Hough, on twitter.