Anonymous wrote:It’s so sad what happened to her. She clearly has serious mental health issues, and it appears nobody around her who has a genuine interest in really helping her. I know some people thing her husband truly loves her, but I think he is just using her to try to build a name for himself, I especially felt that after the NYT article.

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Anonymous wrote:OP here. I agree with most of this. I have a feeling she is and has always been intellectually disabled, but somewhat of a performing savant, which happens, so her extreme mental illness coupled with ID is a scary and devastating combo. Complete speculation. It also would paint her family in a terrible light for taking advantage of her talents while exploiting, essentially, a small child in mind and body (I think she’s far from a teen, mentally).

I’m the PP directly above you and I disagree completely that she’s always been “intellectually disabled.” You do know how low functioning you have to be to earn that diagnosis, right?

Family exploitation, yes. Bipolar disorder, almost certainly. ID, no. She’d present very differently.

Possibly low average to lower limits of average IQ plus mental illness

Brittney Spears may not of been book smart but you literally can not be a high quality performer and sing and dance with a low IQ. It’s just not possible. Performing requires a lot of coordination, memory and control.

You can definitely dance and perform moves, similar to other types of athletes, with a low average or average IQ.

Spears has been performing since she was a small child and was on the Mickey Mouse club. Those kids would need to learn new music and dance routines constantly and at the drop of a hat. You can’t be average and do that. Performance and musical abilities are linked to higher IQs.

Anonymous wrote:I’m certain she was molested as a child.

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Anonymous wrote:OP here. I agree with most of this. I have a feeling she is and has always been intellectually disabled, but somewhat of a performing savant, which happens, so her extreme mental illness coupled with ID is a scary and devastating combo. Complete speculation. It also would paint her family in a terrible light for taking advantage of her talents while exploiting, essentially, a small child in mind and body (I think she’s far from a teen, mentally).

Just want to add that the media and many, many members of her team also exploited her for profit.

Lots of people on this thread have correlated her mental illness with her pregnancy, but I imagine public scrutiny and humiliation she endured played a bigger role. She had no support system.

She had her kids at a fairly young age, around 23/24 IIRC. That’s definitely within the common age range of onset schizophrenia. It’s possible her illness would have manifested even if she never had kids or been in the industry. She’d just be living with her parents or homeless instead.

Bi-polar/schizophrenia can be caused having children or suffering abuse? I thought they are just inherent chemical imbalances that take time to develop?

DP (who just posted, but I think these issues are important to clarify) - both bipolar disorder and schizophrenia are highly heritable, i.e., there’s a strong genetic component. In women, both tend to emerge in the early to mid-20s (vs. late teens for men). There are environmental contributors to both, such as exposure to childhood trauma, among others, but genes do play a large role.

The hormonal shifts associated with pregnancy/postpartum can impact the presentation of these illnesses, though that’s relatively understudied. Overall, estrogen tends to be protective against psychosis, hence schizophrenia being more common among men than women.

If she had schizophrenia/schizoaffective she’d likely appear far weirder than she does. I don’t say that out of criticism; there’s a bizarreness to these diagnoses that she doesn’t have. She also doesn’t seem thought disordered.

If there are no environmental contributors are the genetic issues less likely to appear?

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Anonymous wrote:OP here. I agree with most of this. I have a feeling she is and has always been intellectually disabled, but somewhat of a performing savant, which happens, so her extreme mental illness coupled with ID is a scary and devastating combo. Complete speculation. It also would paint her family in a terrible light for taking advantage of her talents while exploiting, essentially, a small child in mind and body (I think she’s far from a teen, mentally).

I’m the PP directly above you and I disagree completely that she’s always been “intellectually disabled.” You do know how low functioning you have to be to earn that diagnosis, right?

Family exploitation, yes. Bipolar disorder, almost certainly. ID, no. She’d present very differently.

Possibly low average to lower limits of average IQ plus mental illness

Brittney Spears may not of been book smart but you literally can not be a high quality performer and sing and dance with a low IQ. It’s just not possible. Performing requires a lot of coordination, memory and control.

You can definitely dance and perform moves, similar to other types of athletes, with a low average or average IQ.

Anonymous wrote:I will go out on my own and say I disagree with how her Dad has been painted. Read the same New Yorker article -- guy lives in a trailer outside her hometown in Louisiana, definitely not living the glam life thanks to her.

I think she had a breakdown or the onset of serious mental illness, and her parents freaked out like any of us would (minus having a billionaire kid at risk of being exploited by the world). I think the conservatorship itself was justified, though many of the terms of it were not.

Also, think Kanye should have one, as should my 40 year old brother who makes $150k yet can't pay rent or meet many other requirements of adulthood.

Anonymous wrote:I will go out on my own and say I disagree with how her Dad has been painted. Read the same New Yorker article -- guy lives in a trailer outside her hometown in Louisiana, definitely not living the glam life thanks to her.

I think she had a breakdown or the onset of serious mental illness, and her parents freaked out like any of us would (minus having a billionaire kid at risk of being exploited by the world). I think the conservatorship itself was justified, though many of the terms of it were not.

Also, think Kanye should have one, as should my 40 year old brother who makes $150k yet can't pay rent or meet many other requirements of adulthood.

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Anonymous wrote:OP here. I agree with most of this. I have a feeling she is and has always been intellectually disabled, but somewhat of a performing savant, which happens, so her extreme mental illness coupled with ID is a scary and devastating combo. Complete speculation. It also would paint her family in a terrible light for taking advantage of her talents while exploiting, essentially, a small child in mind and body (I think she’s far from a teen, mentally).

I’m the PP directly above you and I disagree completely that she’s always been “intellectually disabled.” You do know how low functioning you have to be to earn that diagnosis, right?

Family exploitation, yes. Bipolar disorder, almost certainly. ID, no. She’d present very differently.

Possibly low average to lower limits of average IQ plus mental illness

Brittney Spears may not of been book smart but you literally can not be a high quality performer and sing and dance with a low IQ. It’s just not possible. Performing requires a lot of coordination, memory and control.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I agree with most of this. I have a feeling she is and has always been intellectually disabled, but somewhat of a performing savant, which happens, so her extreme mental illness coupled with ID is a scary and devastating combo. Complete speculation. It also would paint her family in a terrible light for taking advantage of her talents while exploiting, essentially, a small child in mind and body (I think she’s far from a teen, mentally).

I’m the PP directly above you and I disagree completely that she’s always been “intellectually disabled.” You do know how low functioning you have to be to earn that diagnosis, right?

Family exploitation, yes. Bipolar disorder, almost certainly. ID, no. She’d present very differently.

Possibly low average to lower limits of average IQ plus mental illness