Britney’s fans think she’s suffering this little-known psychiatric condition – and say it’s why she can’t keep still

Fans of pop princess Britney Spears have long speculated about the status of the singer's mental health following the end of her “traumatic” conservatorship.

The debate is particularly heated right now as the 41-year-old continues to post videos on Instagram showcasing her daring dances – and she often wears very little clothing.

And now an astute campaign group has raised suspicions that Britney may be suffering from a little-known condition that leaves sufferers unable to sit still.

In a video shared on Twitter, health organization Akathisia Alliance for Education and Research said “medication-induced akathisia may be partly responsible” for “why she can never stay still.”

Akathisia is a movement disorder thought to affect millions of Americans and is caused by specific psychiatric medications.

The condition, which causes extreme restlessness and discomfort, can be so torturous that it leads to suicide, according to health group Akathisia Alliance for Education and Research.

Although scientists aren't entirely sure what exactly causes the condition, drugs are thought to disrupt 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 reportedly took against her will.

Other drugs known to cause the problem include loxapine, chlorpromazine, and haloperidol.

After a forced hospitalization in a mental health facility in 2020, Ms. Spears adopted new mannerisms that alarmed fans.

Posts from that time on her Instagram show Britney talking to the camera while fidgeting, shifting her weight from one foot to the other and rocking back and forth.

Commenters wondered why she seems to have trouble staying still in videos posted to social media.

In recent posts, the star can be seen dancing feverishly with prop knives and twirling in quick succession.

The Akathisia Alliance argued that the likely cause of her behavior was the medications she was forced to take under conservatorship that deprived her of financial and physical autonomy.

After saying no to a residency in Las Vegas, in 2019 she was forcibly given lithium, a powerful drug used to treat mood disorders such as bipolar disorder, while in a mental health facility.

The drug reportedly made her feel so drunk that she could no longer have normal conversations.

And text messages between Britney and her mother that the singer revealed on Instagram revealed that she was also prescribed the powerful antipsychotic drug Seroquel, also known as quetiapine, its generic name.

A text Britney sent inside the facility in 2019 read: “I literally feel the sick medicine in my stomach.

'I feel like he's trying to kill me. I swear to God I do.”

The akathisia advocacy group stated that the psychiatric medications Britney Spears was prescribed in 2019 were the cause of her fidgeting, believed to be akathisia.

There are a limited number of case reports describing akathisia associated with quetiapine.

One of them described a 22-year-old woman who developed akathisia while you are taking 150 milligrams of quetiapine per day. The symptoms resolved when her dose was reduced.

The authors of that report said: 'These findings suggest that the akathisia was not due to discontinuation of the antipsychotic… but was a true side effect of quetiapine, because the akathisia decreased with a reduction in the quetiapine dose.'

Akathisia is often underdiagnosed and usually occurs when starting, stopping, or adjusting the dosage of medications.

This would match the timeline of Britney's hospitalization, although it is unknown if she is still taking those medications or if symptoms of akathisia could be a sign of withdrawal.

Ms. Spears revealed in February that she is taking Prozac for depression “and that's about it.”

An Instagram follower commented on a video saying, “She probably went off her meds way too quickly. That's how I got akathisia.'

Doctors do not use laboratory or imaging tests to diagnose akathisia.

Instead, they rely on clinical observation of the patient. Symptoms of akathisia include restlessness, tension, and discomfort, and often overlap with other diagnoses such as mania and ADHD.

In a 2017 article written about the condition by psychiatrists at the University of Texas, the experts said: 'The failure to correctly identify akathisia can have catastrophic consequences, as the increasing severity of akathisia has been associated with the onset and/or worsening of suicidal ideation, aggression and violence.'

Another article by psychiatrists from Great Britain stated: 'The timely recognition of akathisia is of paramount importance as it can cause significant distress to the patient and have an impact on treatment outcomes, leading, for example, to non-concordance and subsequent worsening of psychosis.