Amanda Bynes is off her medication

Oh man, this isn’t very good. Getting treatment for her mental health disorders was Amanda Bynes‘ saving grace, and now it seems like all that progress may just go down the tubes because her mother has taken her off ALL of her medication and her lawyer is claiming she was never schizophrenic at all.

First, here’s her lawyer Tamark Arminak’s statement:

“There has been much speculation about Amanda’s medical condition. She has remained silent because she believed it was best to keep her mental health diagnosis private.”

“However, she asked me to dispel certain rumors. For the record, Amanda does not have schizophrenia, nor has she ever been diagnosed with it. Amanda currently is on zero medication. She’s devoted to living her life as healthy as possible. She’s never had a history of abusing alcohol or hard drugs, and she’s proud to say she’s been marijuana-free for the past nine months.”

Oh man. Denial ain’t just a river in Egypt, as they say. Amanda’s mother, Lynn, even claims that literally EVERYTHING that happened to Amanda before going into treatment was the result of her smoking too much weed. Because, you know, being a stoner makes you want to soak your dog in gasoline, start fires in random people’s driveways, etc.

And, as TMZ points out:

— Amanda was placed on an LPS Hold last year after a judge heard evidence in the psychiatric hospital where she was being held.  According to California law, someone can be placed on an LPS Hold only when the person remains “gravely disabled as the result of a mental disorder or impairment by chronic alcoholism.”  As we reported, doctors presented evidence of grave mental illness.

— Amanda’s mom won a temporary conservatorship after a court-appointed investigator determined Amanda was severely mentally ill.  The judge granted the conservatorship order not too long after Amanda soaked her dog in gasoline and almost lit it on fire.

— Amanda’s lawyers in both California and New York won delays in her criminal cases based on mental illness.

— Sources directly connected to Amanda and her treatment tell TMZ Amanda was given a complex Rx cocktail in a Ventura County psych hospital specifically for Schizophrenia.

— Amanda spent weeks at the UCLA psych ward and at times was so incoherent she had to be restrained.  Amanda left after she became freaked out by other patients.

— Sources tell us, during Amanda’s stay at a Ventura County psych hospital, she would tell doctors about the “Bad Amanda” and mimicked an exorcism and began biting herself.

Dear God. It’s pretty clear that Amanda does indeed suffer from mental illness, and there’s nothing to be ashamed about there. She didn’t ask for it and it’s not her fault. However, it IS rather serious and she needs to be on medication unless the people around her down value her life (or perhaps their own, if it went far enough). Really, really sad to see this happening. I had such high hopes for her (and still do)!