Actress Amanda Bynes seeks help after psychotic episode which saw her walking the streets naked

LOS ANGELES – American actress Amanda Bynes is getting the help she needs after a psychotic episode over the weekend.

The former child star, 36, recognised her own mental health issues and flagged down a car in downtown Los Angeles on Sunday.

As reported by entertainment site TMZ, she was walking around alone and naked while coming down from a psychotic episode.

During a period of psychosis, a person’s thoughts and perceptions are disturbed, and the individual may have difficulty understanding what is real and what is not, according to the National Institute of Mental Health in the United States.

The media outlet said she called the 911 emergency number herself and was taken to a police station and subsequently put under a 72-hour psychiatric hold in a hospital.

The troubled actress, who has struggled with substance abuse and mental health issues for more than a decade, has been on a hiatus since 2010, when she appeared in romantic comedy Easy A.

She was released from a nine-year conservatorship under her mother in 2022 as her condition – she is bipolar and manic depressive – had improved.

On Twitter, netizens applauded her move to seek help when needed.

“Amanda Bynes demonstrated a really impressive level of self-awareness and commitment to her mental health. She’s clearly been doing the work – she understands her illness, checks in with herself and probably had a plan for how to seek help once she recognised signs of psychosis,” one netizen tweeted.

Another Twitter user added: “The fact that Amanda Bynes flagged a car down, told them she was having a psychotic episode and called 911 herself actually gives me a lot of hope for her well-being. That’s a huge deal. When she’s ready, I hope she can be proud of herself for that.”