In a revealing interview, Amanda Seyfried has opened up about what it’s like to live with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and how taking medication for mental illness shouldn’t be stigmatised.
“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,” she revealed.
The 30-year-old actress spoke with Allure about the recent difficulties she faced renovating her home.
Amanda admitted that she had to get the stove removed from a guest house on the property, as she was worried about the safety issues of guests using it.
“I always worry about people and how they use stoves. Which is just a controlling thing,” she said.
Amanda and fiance Thomas Sadoski
The Mamma Mia star has now been taking Lexapro for 11 years, a drug used to treat anxiety and depression.
“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?”
She went on to explain how many people don’t understand mental disorders, as they are not physical problems.
“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,” she said. “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.”
Amanda first opened up about battling with OCD in a 2012 interview with InStyle
“I have to do lots of things at the same time. It’s an obsessive-compulsive thing,”
She revealed that she needs to knit, play Sudoku and listen to music while working out on the elliptical machine at the gym.
