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Fans of pop princess Britney Spears have long speculated about the state of the singer’s mental health following the end of her “traumatic” conservatorship.
The discussion is particularly widespread right now, as the 41-year-old continues to post videos on Instagram showing her daring dances and often wearing very little clothing.
And now an astute campaign group has raised suspicions that Britney may be suffering from a little-known condition that leaves patients unable to sit still.
In a video shared on Twitter, health advocacy group Akathisia Alliance for Education and Research said that “drug-induced akathisia may be partly to blame” for “why she can never sit still.”
Akathisia is a movement disorder thought to affect millions of Americans and is triggered by specific psychiatric medications.
The condition, which causes extreme restlessness and discomfort, can be so torturous that it leads to suicide, according to health advocacy group Akathisia Alliance for Education and Research.
In videos on her Instagram, Britney often performs choreographed dances and answers questions from fans. Concerned viewers have pointed out that Ms. Spears appears to have difficulty staying still when she speaks, often rocking back and forth and shifting her weight.
While scientists aren’t entirely sure what exactly triggers the condition, the medications are thought to interfere with the activity of the hormone dopamine, which controls motivation and pleasure, as well as muscle movement.
Medications known to cause the condition include the mood stabilizer lithium and the antipsychotic quetiapine, both of which Britney Spears has reportedly taken against her will.
Other medications known to trigger the problem include loxapine, chlorpromazine, and haloperidol.
Following a forced hospitalization at a mental health facility in 2020, Spears adopted new mannerisms that alarmed fans.
Posts from that time on her Instagram show Britney speaking to the camera while fidgeting, shifting her weight from one foot to the other and swaying back and forth.
Commenters wondered why she appears to have difficulty holding still in videos posted to social media.
In recent posts, the star can be seen feverishly dancing with prop knives and spinning in rapid succession.
The Akathisia Alliance argued that the probable cause of her behavior was the medications she was forced to take while under guardianship and which deprived her of financial and bodily autonomy.
After saying no to a residency in Las Vegas, he was forcibly given lithium, a powerful drug used to treat mood disorders such as bipolar, in 2019 while in a mental health care facility.
The drug reportedly made her feel drunk to the point that she could not carry on normal conversations.
And texts between Britney and her mother that the singer revealed on Instagram showed that she was also prescribed the powerful antipsychotic Seroquel, also known as quetiapine, its generic name.
A text message sent by Britney inside the facility in 2019 read: ‘I literally feel all (sic) the sick medicine in my stomach.
‘I feel like he’s trying to kill me. I swear to god.
The akathisia advocacy group posited that the psychiatric medications Britney Spears was prescribed in 2019 were the cause of her restlessness, and it is believed to be akathisia.
There are a limited number of case reports describing quetiapine-related akathisia.
One of them described a 22-year-old woman. who developed akathisia while taking 150 milligrams of quetiapine per day. The symptoms disappeared when the dose was reduced.
The authors of that report said: “These findings suggest that akathisia was not due to withdrawal of the antipsychotic… but was a true side effect of quetiapine, because akathisia decreased with reduction in the quetiapine dose.”
Akathisia it is often underdiagnosed and usually occurs when starting, stopping or adjusting medication doses.
This would coincide with Britney’s hospitalization schedule, although it is unknown if she is still taking those medications or if the akathisia symptoms could be a sign of withdrawal.
Spears revealed in February that she takes Prozac for depression “and that’s it.”
One Instagram follower commented on a video saying, “They probably took him off his meds too quickly.” That’s how he gave me akathisia.
Doctors do not use laboratory or imaging tests to diagnose akathisia.
Instead, they are based on clinical observation of the patient. Symptoms of akathisia include restlessness, tension and malaise and often overlap with other diagnoses such as mania and ADHD.
In a 2017 article written about this condition by psychiatrists at the University of Texas, experts saying: “Failure to correctly identify akathisia can have catastrophic implications, as the increasing severity of akathisia has been linked to the onset and/or worsening of suicidal ideation, aggression and violence.”
Another article by UK psychiatrists said: “Timely recognition of akathisia is paramount as it can cause considerable distress to the patient and have an impact on treatment outcomes, leading, for example, to lack of concordance.” and subsequent exacerbation of psychosis.