Highlights
- Britney Spears’ recent actions on Instagram have raised concerns about her health, and an advocacy group believes she may be suffering from akathisia.
- The group claims that Spears exhibits symptoms of akathisia in a video montage showing her behavior before and after her mental hospitalization.
- Fans are divided on the issue, with some agreeing with the diagnosis while others argue that diagnosing Spears without meeting her is inappropriate.
Britney Spears’ actions as of late on Instagram have left many concerned. But Spears’ fans are now fearing for her health as an advocacy group for a rare medical condition have speculated that they believe they know what is wrong with Spears. If they are correct, it may explain the erratic behavior Spears has been showing on social media that has concerned her family for quite some time.
On November 29, the Akathisia Alliance for Education and Research posted to X (formerly Twitter) that they believe they know why Spears is unable to remain still and calm for her Instagram video. According to the nonprofit organization, Spears is suffering from akathasia.
While the group has never met with Spears personally, they posted a video of what they claim is evidence that Spears is suffering from akathisia, a condition where people are unable to remain still. In the video montage, the group showed how Spears was behaving before her forced mental hospitalization stay in 2020. They then show footage of how she was behaving after.
Essentially, it was two versions of Spears. One who seemed cool, calm, and collected, who was able to write a memoir that added to her net worth, and another who was not able to remain still and had trouble with putting together a coherent string of thoughts.
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There are some fans who wish that the media and groups like this would stop diagnosing Spears when they have never met with her. But other fans are concerned that the Akathisia Alliance may be right on the money with their assessment of the “Princess of Pop” and hope she can find help for the condition.
Why Fans Fear That Britney Spears May Have Akathisia
Given the evidence that the video appears to show, fans are legitimately afraid that akathisia is to blame for the way that Spears has behaved in more recent years. Some can even relate to what Spears is experiencing, if, in fact, she does have the condition.
“This makes sense and explains much of her erratic [sic] behavior,” one fan wrote.
A second fan stated, “She was probably taken off her meds way too fast. That’s how I got akathisia.”
Of course, there were those fans who wanted the media and the Alliance to “Leave Britney alone.” Others questioned how the Akathisia Alliance could even diagnose Spears when they had not ever spoken with her.
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“I’ve never seen any videos of her acting like she has Akathisia but I just am not into Spears,” an X user wrote. “Yes, it’s terrible but unless you talk to her you won’t know if she had restlessness, inability to sit still, pacing, etc. How can anyone know these things?”
While there are those on both sides of the diagnosis who believe it is spot-on, others do not agree with it at all, it does give people a moment for pause, given the way that most people get akathisia. But then again, this is not the first time we have seen fans and experts analyzing Britney’s behaviour. In a video released a few weeks ago by a behavioral analyst, Spears’ body language was dissected and the video’s comments seem to support the claims.
How Britney Spears May Have Gotten Akathisia
Those who have been diagnosed with akathisia have generally been put on certain medications to regulate their mood. The medications cause the dopamine levels in the body to significantly decrease or be blocked altogether. As a result, the body feels like it is unable to remain still.
“Akathisia is an inability to remain physically still. It’s a movement disorder that’s linked to certain types of medications, especially antipsychotic medications,” according to the Cleveland Clinic. “People with akathisia feel an intense and uncontrollable need to move — mainly, their lower body.”
There are four different types of the condition that vary by definition depending on when the akathisia is recognized. Be it in the days after starting a new medication, symptoms arise, delayed onset that takes months for the symptoms to show, a chronic version of the condition that occurs after being on medications for longer than six months, and withdrawal akathisia that occurs when people are not properly tapered off their medications.
While it has not been expressed just which of the type or types of akathisia Spears has, the medications that Spears has admitted to being forced to take over the years can be traced to cause akathisia in patients. Specifically, lithium and quetiapine, both of which Spears was forced to take after refusing to do a residency in Las Vegas.
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Spears has been candid about dealing with bouts of depression. She has also admitted that she takes Prozac and “that’s about it.” Prozac is not on the list of drugs that cause akathisia. But given the volume of anti-psychotics that Spears claims she was forced to take during her conservatorship and that many of them fall on the list of drugs that can cause akathisia, it makes sense that the Akathisia Alliance would shine a light on Spears to try and get her help for her behavior that many find concerning.
Source: NewsFinale
