LIFE & CULTURE

Amanda Bynes Admits Herself To 72-Hour Psychiatric Hold After Episode

The star knew she needed help.
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Amanda Bynes was placed under a psychiatric hold on Sunday, after experiencing a distressing episode.

According to TMZ, the former Nickelodeon star, who is diagnosed with bipolar disorder, flagged down a car on a street in LA to tell the driver she was coming down from the episode. She was not dressed and ended up calling 911 on herself to get help.

The outlet reports that the star was fortunately unhurt.

Bynes, 36, was taken to a police station for processing, where a mental health authority deemed she should be placed under what is called a ‘5150 hold’.

This type of psychiatric hold lasts three days, and the patient is put under the care of a mental health facility during this time. At the end of the 72 hours, the hold can be extended should the patient require more time to convalesce.

This episode comes just days before the one-year anniversary of when Bynes was freed from a nine-year conservatorship (23rd March 2022). Her mother Lynn Bynes was the main conservator, but both of her parents supported their daughter to be freed from the arrangement.

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Amanda Bynes shared this selfie to her Instagram recently. (Credit: Image: Instagram)

The child actor was diagnosed with bipolar in 2014, suffering also with manic depression. She has been open in the past about her issues with substance abuse, telling Paper magazine that she struggled with addiction to Adderall, a common ADHD medication. At the time, in 2018, Bynes said she was four years sober.

Bynes was engaged to fellow American actor Paul Michael in February 2020, but the pair split just after the conservatorship ended in April 2022. Page Six reports that she alleges he had relapsed on crack cocaine, despite having a clean drug test.

“To clarify: I said what I said about Paul relapsing because he did,” Bynes said in an Instagram in April 2022. “I don’t know when he got clean… At any rate, I shouldn’t have said he’s currently using, because he’s been sober for 2 weeks.”

With Bynes now under psychiatric care, Michael came out to tell Page Six that Bynes had been “off her meds” prior to the incident. Naturally, Bynes hasn’t yet had the opportunity to respond to such allegations given she is still under care.

Despite this episode, Amanda Bynes had appeared to have settled into a life she loved, graduating from the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising in 2019 and enrolling in cosmetology school to become a manicurist.

She shared the news on her Instagram story back in October 2022, giving a tour of the classroom, which was set out like a nail salon.

We’re hoping that after a few days Bynes will be well enough to leave hospital and resume her path to a dream career.

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