This is both mind-boggling and tragic at the same time. Yes, Britney does need very special help. Like round-the-clock pychiatric treatment. We can continue to bash/mock/flip off this troubled young woman, or we can start heeding her desperate cries for help, if only for the sake of her boys.

The headline-grabbing drama queen stayed true to form and got herself committed last night after a three hour standoff with law enforcement officials, in which she allegedly locked herself in a room with one of her young sons, refusing to hand him over to her ex-husband Kevin Federline. Spears is now on a ‘5150 hold’ at Cedars-Sinai hospital in L.A. , meaning she's a danger to herself and others. It is alleged that the fallen pop star tried to kill herself. Entertainment Tonight reports that Spears will receive psychological evaluation for the next 72 hours.

Emergency services–police, medical and fire crews–were summoned to Spears' home Thursday night at around 8 p.m. after she refused to hand over her boys at the appointed time. It is alleged that the singer was under the influence of an unknown substance, however Life & Style magazine reports that her blood tests came back negative. “There are no traces of drugs or alcohol of any kind,” a source close to the Spears family told the magazine. Thank goodness–one bright spot in this whole dark and sordid affair.

Spears eventually relinquished her boys at 11 p.m. Strapped to a gurney, a disoriented-looking Spears alternated between bouts of screaming and hysterical laughter as she was whisked off to Cedars-Sinai. Among the things she's said to have been screaming was that she wanted to die, and that she "would rather die than let him have my babies."

Poor, poor Britney. Let's keep our fingers crossed that she gets the help she so desperately needs, at last.

[CNN, ET, Life & Style]