Of course, I realise these may be a consequence of underlying mental illness, but she wasn’t like this back at 15/16 before the train of addictions began.

Yes, of course the categories of psychiatric diagnostics are arbitrary to a considerable extent, with big grey areas between the various disorders. The important question is whether they are of practical use in helping a person get themselves grounded and back on course with their life. For instance there are many psychiatrists and others who now take the view that bipolar disorder and unipolar depression are really part of a single spectrum of mood disorders. However the treatments are different. While generally the drugs most useful for dealing with depression are antidepressants, those with bipolar disorder are either treated with mood stabilisers or a combination of mood stabilisers and anti-depressants (and occasionally anti-psychotics). antidepressants on their own may well trigger a manic episode.

I feel frustrated and dismayed when I hear or read people saying flat out that these conditions don’t exist, that they are fabrications designed to line the pockets of psychiatrists and big pharma. I had quite some trouble getting psychiatrists to agree that I had bipolar disorder. It was only when I presented a very detailed history of my symptoms to my psychiatrist that he finally came round. I and many of the other bipolar people I have met in the since my diagnosis are very knowledgeable about our condition and the various medications available. We guide our psychiatrists to particular treatment options based on what we find works or does not work for us. Many of us also do other things to manage the physiological aspect of our illness – extreme fight-or-flight responses in other words – such as making sure we have particular kinds of foods or that we have enough exposure to daylight, or going for a long walk.

As for whether Britney Spears is bipolar, all I can say is that this is quite plausible. Borderline personality disorder? I don’t know enough to say. It is certainly true that many psychoactive substances cause symptoms similar to those of bipolar disorder, which makes it very hard to assess whether the drugs or the illness came first. I had a very close relative who had an alcohol problem and was prone to extreme behaviour. I had always assumed that the alcohol, combined with life stresses, was at the root of the behaviour, but since my own diagnosis I am able to look not only at her, but at some of the other members of my family who don’t have alcohol problems and realise that we have all been prone to severely erratic moods. However, with the exception of one aunt, none of us would have been correctly diagnosed 20 years ago because the diagnostic criteria then were too narrow. I think this very close relative would have been much happier if she had had access to the kind of medication she needed. Instead they put her on valium. So yes, bipolar disorder is a real condition for which there are effective pharmaceutical treatments. I must confess I feel a little resentful when people proclaim otherwise for ideological reasons, as if physiology doesn’t matter.

Lastly, to the person who said that he looked at Britney in the video and knew straight away that she had bipolar disorder, I just want to say, I understand where you are coming from. However it is very easy to project our own problem onto someone else. We can’t say unless we have access to the kind of personal information that her psychiatrist probably has and we don’t.

Misdiagnosis of an Axis 2 is often made when a person is in crisis.
Granted,persons with Axis 2 or personality disorders are sometimes so unstable that crisis is an ongoing state.
But many BPD (Borderline Personality Disorder)patients later in life when retested no longer have symptoms of the disorder.

The truth is that these are all just labels used because if you can label somthing you can get paid for it.
Damning index tabs many of them.If you really piss off your shrink rest assured your gonna get a damning index tab.

Life coaching? If the coach is teaching you that Hollywood has alot of false values and you need to change your priorities,take care of yourself and change your lifestyle, yeah, a life coach might be helpful.If you grew up in the media you have probably sustained some damage from it to your soul.There is a price to selling your childhood away to gain fame.
Why everybody else was busy with the business of learning and growing up the child star is working. Somthing is sacraficed. It is a mistake not to realize this. So now, is the work of catching up with the emotional development from where you left off to be a star.