Mischa Barton's psychiatric ward confinement nightmare: Mischa Barton of the OC just did an interview describing the "terrifying" time she during a breakdown in 2009.

According to Today, OC actress Mischa Barton describes her breakdown in an interview in the latest issue of People Magazine, beginning with a terrifying description of Barton strapped down to a gurney, threatening to kill herself.  Her family had done an intervention, and she had taken a Xanax, passing out.  She was committed to the psychiatric ward at Cedars-Sinai on an involuntary confinement hold for 4 days.

"It was terrifying," she said. "Straight out of Girl Interrupted."

Watch Mischa Barton Psych Ward Video Here:

"I was never suicidal," Mischa told People, saying that her threat to harm herself was just a "slip of the tongue".  Barton said she "was just overworked and depressed."

Barton says that her friends' "work hard, play hard" attitude and "work, my family and all the pressure" gave her problems, and that the psych ward confinement was for the best.

"I was living a jet-set lifestyle.  There were a lot of enablers around, people to fly you around and to make it all possible."

Mischa Barton also talked about the way pressure surrounding her weight affected her during that time: "It was always, 'She's too skinny, she must be sick.  Then it was, 'She's too big.' I was never the right weight." 

Now, though, Mischa Barton is doing a lot better, and has recently starred in a TV pilot: "I've learned a lot," the OC actress told People, "I'm stronger now."