Seyfried opens up about living with mental illness

Actress Amanda Seyfried says she has Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD).

While discussing home renovations in Allure magazine's November issue, the actress mentioned she has obsessive compulsive disorder, reports eonline.com.

"I bought the house in 2013, and then I had it redone," the 30-year-old said of the house she owns in Stone Ridge, New York.

"I just finished renovating one of the barns for guests. I put in a bathroom and a little kitchenette, but no stove; I want people to eat meals in the house. Also, I always worry about people and how they use stoves. Which is just a controlling thing."

That worry, she explained, is related to her OCD.

"I'm on Lexapro, and I'll never get off of it," Seyfried said of needing an anti-depressant.

"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."

Seyfried, who had previously discussed being in therapy, does what she can to manage her disease.

"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," she said.

"I had pretty bad health anxiety that came from the OCD and thought I had a tumor 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."

--IANS

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