Amanda Seyfried opens up about OCD battle

Amanda Seyfried has opened up about her mental health.

In an interview with Allure, the 30-year-old actress talks about dealing with OCD and anxiety, and advocates for mental health to be taken as "seriously" as other diseases.

"I'm on Lexapro, and I'll never get off of it," she says, referring to the antidepressant used to also treat anxiety.

"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."

Amanda says she thinks mental illness should be taking more seriously.

"And what are you fighting against? Just the stigma of using a tool?" she adds.

"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. Why do you need to prove it? If you can treat it, you treat it."

The Mamma Mia! actress also reveals her own experience of getting diagnosed.

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"I had pretty bad health anxiety that came from the OCD and thought I had a tumour in my brain," she recalls.

"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."

Amanda, who got engaged last month to her Last Word co-star Thomas Sadoski, also admits to feeling intensely insecure at times.

"Sometimes I feel I know the world so well, but then...it's so debilitating," she added.

"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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