Amanda Seyfried opens up about her struggles with mental illness

The actress discussed her experience of living with OCD and anxiety

Amanda Seyfried has spoken candidly about the stigma surrounding mental health. The actress revealed to Allure magazine that she had been living with OCD since her teens, and has been on medication for over a decade:

‘I’m on Lexapro, and I’ll never get off of it,’ the Mean Girls actress said. 'I’ve been on it since I was 19, so 11 years.’

The star, who is set to star in the hotly anticipated Twin Peaks revival in 2017, also spoke about her frustrations over the way mental illness is viewed compared to more physical illnesses:

‘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. You don’t see the mental illness: It’s not a mass; it’s not a cyst. But it’s there.’

Amanda, who recently got engaged to her actor boyfriend Thomas Sadoski after six months of dating, confessed that at one stage her OCD began to affect her anxiety levels, leading her to believe that she had a brain tumour: ‘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.’

Speaking positively, the Miu Miu muse revealed that she does feel that her condition is improving with age and time: ‘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.’

Amanda is one of many high-profile celebrities who have spoken honestly about their mental health battles of late. Cara Delevingne, Gwyneth Palthrow and many more have publicly discussed their struggles with conditions from anxiety to post-natal depression. The message being: don't suffer in silence.