Britney Spears' Family and Friends Planned Intervention, 'Afraid She's Gonna Die'

Britney Spears has been struggling with her mental health and substance abuse, and both problems are now dire enough that people closest to her planned an intervention ... TMZ has learned. As one source in regular contact with Britney told TMZ, "I'm afraid she's gonna die."

Multiple sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ ... people around Britney have become alarmed by her erratic, volatile behavior. We're told she's taking meds that "hype her up." Our sources say she's been "flying off the handle" with increasing regularity and is not taking the medications that stabilize her.

Our sources say her manager rented a house in the L.A. area for several months and the plan was to take an unsuspecting Britney to the house, where her husband Sam Asghari, her manager, an interventionist and doctors would be present, in an attempt to convince her she needed help. We're told Jamie Spears, Lynne Spears and Britney's 2 sons were not involved. The plan was for the intervention to go down Tuesday.

We're told the plan was for Britney to live in the rented house for as long as 2 months while she received both medical treatment and psychological counseling.

That plan changed Tuesday ... we're told Britney became "somewhat aware" of the plan and for some reason it all changed and the intervention idea was scrapped. We asked multiple people connected to Britney and Sam why the plug would be pulled given her condition -- we got no answers.

Our sources say Britney agreed to meet with a doctor -- we don't know if it's a physician or a therapist. We're told Britney met with the doctor Wednesday late afternoon and it "went well."

TMZ broke the story, Britney was spotted at a restaurant near her home last month where witnesses tell us she was acting "manic." In video, obtained by TMZ, Britney can be heard rambling incoherently.