u/arbataxmelody354

I'm very happy that the mental health discours is focusing so much on accountability. It's important to know that being autistic, a narcissist or bipolar doesn't make you necessarily a bad person.

That said, it's important to acknowledge that mental illness *does* have an impact on the way you perceive the world, your thoughts and therefore your actions. A person who suffers from severe paranoia and believes that the people around them want to kill them cuz the CIA said so can cause serious harm to others for "self defense". A person suffering from a god complex delusion can make reckless decisions and put themselves and others in danger. A person suffering from bipolar can take too many responsibilities during a manic episode just to become extremely neglectful towards the same ones they wanted to take care of and protect.

This isn't a justification. Of course we have to do our best to avoid causing harm to others. But sometimes, our best isn't enough. Our willpower isn't always enough. Our mental clarity isn't always enough.

Of course I don't know Britney and can only make assumptions. But from what I see, she seems very delusional and paranoid. Like, a lot. She's convinced that the paps are secretely faking their identities to become her employees and spy on her, that her mother is secretly following her inside the hotels and reporting fake domestic violence allegations against her boyfriends to take her money and that she's an angel. I may be wrong, but I have the impression she's worried about doctors secretely wanting to harm her and that she knows better. And in this case it's much worse than somebody just not wanting to get help, because it's impossible to even have a discussion about it.

She's also not just completely incapable of living on her own and do the most basic things, but also absolutely unaware of it. She gets unsafe medical procedures and doesn't understand why it goes wrong and get pets without knowing you have to take them out for poop and eventually wash the floor if they shit and piss on it. That's... well, concerning. And definitely not a sign of being aware that *it's not nice to step on your dog's poop.*

Not to mention the drugs abuse that only worsens her delusional state and incapacity of taking basic care of herself. She's like a kid who acts though and rebellious but can't even understand why you have to work if your credit card magically produces money.

Unfortunately this doesn't apply only to Britney.