+
Sign up for
The Upworthiest
Our top stories of the day delivered straight to your inbox.
Health

Amanda Bynes and her very public conservatorship fight shows the need to rethink mental health

Amanda Bynes and her very public conservatorship fight shows the need to rethink mental health
www.flickr.com

Amanda Bynes.

In a now deleted post, actress Amanda Bynes returned to social media to speak out about the petition to terminate her conservatorship, which was put into place in 2013 after several public incidents.

Her mother Lynn was named as the temporary conservator of Bynes' personal life and finances before being appointed permanently. Bynes had been arrested several times for misdemeanor offenses and her struggles with substance use. At the time the conservatorship was petitioned, Bynes was involuntarily hospitalized after lighting a fire in her neighbor's driveway in July 2013. Bynes confirmed in a 2014 tweet that she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder after her hospitalization.

Since being placed under a conservatorship, Bynes has stayed mostly out of the public eye. She enrolled in the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in 2014 following her release from the hospital and subsequent conservatorship. She graduated in 2019 while on a day pass from her inpatient treatment facility at the time. Bynes has reportedly continued to do well since graduating and opened up about her past substance abuse in an interview after graduation.

Bynes' parents are reported to be in agreement that her conservatorship should end, though a judge had ordered the arrangement to be extended until 2023. If that sounds familiar, it's because we've all learned a lot more about celebrity conservatorships after the much popularized end to Britney Spears' conservatorship last year. The length of these conservatorships raises some questions, including at what point do we question the law on how these conservatorships are carried out, and to what length of time.

In both these cases, the legal reach of the conservatorship has been extensive. They lasted years and left the women with little say in controlling their lives. While it seems that Amanda’s parents truly had her best interests at heart and are now fully on board to have her conservatorship terminated, it begs the question as to where the line is drawn when it comes to mental health conservatorships and how extensive or limited they should be. It is not unheard of for someone to be placed under a guardianship for life, especially if the person is intellectually or developmentally delayed and they cannot make appropriate decisions for themselves without extensive help. But in cases where mental health is concerned, it feels different.

In most cases, full autonomy is ideal for people who suffer with mental health conditions, even severe ones like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or other disorders that can include psychosis. Having a severe mental health condition does not make someone permanently incapable of caring for themselves or others, particularly if they're able to commit to a regimen of doctor recommended medication and therapy.

Conservatorship is something that is typically used as a last resort for people experiencing severe mental illness. It is oftentimes short-lived until the person is stabilized and set up with some sort of intensive mental health therapy, but it can be difficult to be released from a conservatorship if the person doesn’t have a strong network of support. When conservatorships stretch out to decades, it makes you wonder whether the support being received is adequate, whether the mental health system is failing that person in some way, whether there needs to be a holistic re-evaluation of the law surrounding conservatorships. It also shines a light on the importance of commitment to ongoing treatment and the associated results.

Amanda Bynes feeling well enough to advocate for the termination of her conservatorship is something to celebrate. Mental illness does not have to hold the level of stigma that it does, and people who are experiencing conditions severe enough to result in hospitalization or guardianship still deserve autonomy over their lives and people rooting for their success.

From Your Site Articles
Related Articles Around the Web
amanda bynes
Badge
KFC
KFC
Joy

KFC tackles food insecurity this holiday season with its Sharemobile food truck

True

The last thing children should have to worry about is where their next meal will come from. But the unfortunate reality is food insecurity is all too common in this country.

In an effort to help combat this pressing issue, KFC is teaming up with Blessings in a Backpack to provide nearly 70,000 meals to families in need and spread holiday cheer along the way.

The KFC Sharemobile, a holiday-edition charitable food truck, will be making stops at schools in Chicago, Orlando, and Houston in December to share KFC family meals and special gifts for a few select families to address specific needs identified by their respective schools.

These cities were chosen based on the high level of food insecurity present in their communities and hardships they’ve faced, such as a devastating hurricane season in Florida and an unprecedented winter storm in Houston. In 2021, five million children across the US lived in food-insecure households, according to the USDA.

“Sharing a meal with family or friends is a special part of the holidays,” said Nick Chavez, CMO of KFC U.S. “Alongside our franchisees, we wanted to make that possible for even more families this holiday season.”

KFC will also be making a donation to Blessings in a Backpack, a nonprofit that works to provide weekend meals to school-aged children across America who might otherwise go hungry.

“The generous donations from KFC could not have come at a better time, as these communities have been particularly hard-hit this year with rising food costs, inflation and various natural disasters,” Erin Kerr, the CEO of Blessings in a Backpack, told Upworthy. “Because of KFC’s support, we’re able to spread holiday cheer by donating meals for hunger-free weekends and meet each community’s needs,” Kerr said.

This isn’t the first time KFC has worked with Blessings in a Backpack. The fried chicken chain has partnered with the nonprofit for the last six years, donating nearly $1 million dollars. KFC employees also volunteer weekly to package and provide meals to students in Louisville, Kentucky who need food over the weekend.

KFC franchisees are also bringing the Sharemobile concept to life in markets across the country through local food donations and other holiday giveback moments. Ampex Brands, a KFC franchisee based in Dallas, recently held its annual Day of Giving event and donated 11,000 meals to school children in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods.

If you’d like to get involved, you can make a donation to help feed students in need at kfc.com/kfcsharemobile. Every bit helps, but a donation of $150 helps feed a student on the weekends for an entire 38-week school year, and a donation as low as $4 will feed a child for a whole weekend.

From Your Site Articles
Related Articles Around the Web
holidays
Identity

Young girl who had the cops called on her for studying lanternflies wins a major award

“We were thrilled that she was doing that.”

Caldwell Police via Gregory Mascera

Body cam footage of the police approaching 9-year-old Bobbi Wilson and her mother.

On October 22, 9-year-old Bobbi Wilson was excited to go out into her Caldwell, New Jersey, neighborhood to see if a mixture she put together would be effective at killing spotted lanternflies. She had learned about the dangers that the lanternflies pose to the local tree population during the summer and created an insecticide that she learned about on TikTok.

Spotted lanternflies are an invasive species dangerous to trees because they feed on their sap.

“That’s her thing,” Wilson’s mother, Monique Joseph, told CNN. “She’s going to kill the lanternflies, especially if they’re on a tree. That’s what she’s going to do.”

While Wilson was peacefully working on her sustainability experiment, her neighbor, Gordon Lawshe, called the police on her. “There’s a little Black woman walking, spraying stuff on the sidewalks and trees on Elizabeth and Florence. I don’t know what the hell she’s doing. Scares me, though,” he said, according to CNN.

Lawshe told the dispatcher she was a “real tiny woman” and wearing a “hood.”

Keep ReadingShow less
stem

A little bit of tech brings this video of a real snowball fight from the 1800s to life

People thought this mega viral clip was fake. But it really is from 1897.

History in Pictures/Twitter

“Bataille de neige,” aka “Snow Fight," is a silent short film shot in 1897.

Whether you live in perpetually sunny California or frost-covered Alaska, a snowball fight is a universally recognized image of winter fun. It’s an activity that appeals to both our inner strategist and inner child. There’s the instant gratification of seeing your projectile instantly exploding into a powdery cloud upon impact. Then there’s the more long-term thrill of trying to covertly hit a target without getting hit yourself. And let’s be honest—it’s all the more satisfying if the target is an unsuspecting victim.

A video posted to Twitter by “History in Pictures” shows a group of men and women engaging in “the first ever recorded snowball fight,” which dates all the way back to 1897. At one point, even a cyclist riding down the snow-covered street gets pelted and thrown off his bike.
Keep ReadingShow less
Pop Culture

16 of the Gen X time capsules that make zero sense to any other generation

Who remembers Columbia House collect notices?

Tumblr

The car DJ is a sacred job.

Let’s hear it for the lost generation—the slackers and middle children who brought us apathy personified and grunge music. Sure, Gen Xers might not be as loud as the boomers, millennials or even the Gen Zers of this world, but that’s only because, if we’re honest, they’re too busy taking care of things themselves to have time to complain.

And you know, for being the forgotten generation, the world can’t seem to stop talking about it. From Gen X pop culture classics re-emerging into the mainstream, to making headline-worthy spikes in wealth over the past couple of years, this group is (finally) in the spotlight.

Recently u/Ruffffian asked the Reddit community to share what they consider to be “THE most Gen X” thing. As a certified millennial, I have absolutely no idea what half of them are (seriously, what is a “Garbage Pail Kid” and why are they terrifying?). But I guess that’s why only you latchkey kids can proudly claim them.

Keep ReadingShow less
nostalgia
Joy

The foolproof guide to making friends as an adult.

Making friends is hard. These five tips from an expert can help.

Photo by Chris Murray on Unsplash

Making friends as an adult is more complicated than you think.

This article originally appeared on 07.05.18


Making friends as an adult is definitely not like making friends as a kid.

Remember how easy it was to make a new friend when you were young? Five minutes sharing a slide and suddenly you're bonded for life.

But as we grow older, making friends can become much harder. So hard, in fact, that some people equate having a large group of close friends to a miracle.

Keep ReadingShow less
Trending Stories