Peter Andre experienced panic attacks "every day for years."
Peter Andre
The 'Mysterious Girl' hitmaker has admitted his mental health was a real challenge for him when he was growing up because he'd suffer an overwhelming feeling of anxiety, which left him feeling like he was about to die, but couldn't tell his parents about it.
Speaking to heat after pledging his support for 'Where's Your Head At?' - a campaign aiming to get a mental health first aider in every workplace or college - he said: "I remember when I had my first panic attack, which was horrific... At the time, you think you are going to die. There is nothing anybody could tell you that is going make you understand that you're not going die from it. It's just a fear.
"And I used to not know who to talk to: I couldn't talk to my parents because they were so old school, that they would just be like, 'get yourself a drink and you'll be fine.' They didn't understand, so I was too scared to tell them.
"And I was really scared until I found that I had to talk to somebody who specialised in this for me to get it out my system.
"Once I started to understand what the problem was and the panic attacks were so regular - everyday - for years, I started to want to talk about it because it was the only way I could get better... It was the best thing I ever did."
The 45-year-old television personality was prescribed medication to numb the symptoms of his anxiety and he went into therapy to help him deal with his issues.
He explained: "Some people would disagree with what I'm gonna say here: for me, both medication and therapy helped.
"Medication doesn't solve the problem. What medication does, is put you in a frame of mind to be able to deal with the problem. So if you just took the medication, which I've done before, I felt great all of a sudden, I felt normal, didn't think I needed therapy. The problem is that all you've done is sweep the problem under the carpet. The minute you stop that medication, because you're like: 'I don't need this anymore' it comes back with a vengeance... Once you get the therapy to deal with the issue actually is, all of a sudden you start to solve the problem."
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