Actress Amanda Seyfried has revealed that she is living with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), which affects most areas of her life.
The 30-year-old actress has had the mental health condition for years and takes antidepressant Lexapro to help her control the symptoms, reported Female First.
"I've been on it since I was 19, so 11 years. I'm on the lowest dose. I don't see the point of getting off of it. Whether it's placebo or not, I don't want to risk it. And what are you fighting against? Just the stigma of using a tool?
"A mental illness is a thing that people cast in a different category (from other illnesses), but I don't think it is. It should be taken as seriously as anything else."
The newly engaged beauty, who got betrothed to Thomas Sadoski in September, said the condition has had a negative impact on her life and at one point she thought she had a brain tumour but it was just her anxiety making her believe that.
"You don't see the mental illness: It's not a mass; it's not a cyst. But it's there. Why do you need to prove it? If you can treat it, you treat it. I had pretty bad health anxiety that came from the OCD and thought I had a tumour in my brain.
"I had an MRI, and the neurologist referred me to a psychiatrist. As I get older, the compulsive thoughts and fears have diminished a lot. Knowing that a lot of my fears are not reality-based really helps."
The "Mamma Mia!" star said living in the public eye does not help her symptoms and fame can make her OCD worse.
"It's funny when insecurity hits you. Sometimes I feel I know the world so well, but then ... It's so debilitating. You're like, 'What am I doing here? No one wants to see me. Why are you taking my picture? It's stupid, it's irrational, and it's not all about me, but I make it about me because I'm insecure.
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