Britney Spears needs a lot of help right now -- and the answer may lie in a new conservatorship and a ton of medication ... so says Dr. Charles Sophy.

We got the famed Hollywood psychiatrist Monday on "TMZ Live," where he offered up his professional opinion on Britney's situation -- this as she appears to be unraveling at the seams ... with her finances in shambles as she continues to spend excessively.

Take a listen to what Dr. Sophy says he thinks Britney requires at this point ... from his POV, he believes a second round of a court-ordered conservatorship might be what's best.

He also says it appears to him Britney isn't on her meds  ... and he says he'd force these drugs into her system whether she liked it or not, if she was under his care as a patient.

It might sound like a fiery hot take -- but Sophy explains why he genuinely thinks this is the best route for her right now ... because, in his opinion, she's on a path toward self-destruction ... and the time bomb is going to go off sooner than later, which may become messy.

Of course, hearing this might rile up the #FreeBritney crowd -- who were out in force when she was released from her conservatorship a couple years back. And while the public might be anti-conservatorship ... the good doctor here tells us a judge should look at what's best for Britney, which he says is a legal apparatus around her to keep her behavior in check.

Sophy acknowledges that the conservatorship might've gone awry under her father Jamie's watch -- but even on that front, we know Britney's attorney ended up settling with Jamie ... and got nothing in return. On the contrary, Britney had to pay millions to her dad.

Now that we've learned she's blowing cash on a ton of vacations and other expenses ... Dr. Sophy says it's all but clear to him that she needs medical professionals to step in and medicate her, because he sees a person who's out of control, with no end in sight.

Dr. Sophy says that while Britney might've hated her old conservatorship ... it was at least a stable presence in her life -- and he doesn't see that in her right now in her current state.