Ryan Phillippe uses "meditation and exercise" to combat depression.

Ryan Phillippe

Ryan Phillippe

The 42-year-old actor has spoken out in the past about his struggles with the mood disorder but has taken a number of steps to help tackle the condition and found a recent trip to Thailand incredibly helpful.

He said:"I talk to myself quite often. I'm constantly talking things through in my head. I took a trip to Thailand, and I had such an amazing experience. Since then I've been reading a ton of Eastern philosophy about giving up some of the superficial things we're attached to, which I'm trying to do.

"I also have issues with patience and depression, and I'm thinking about how to focus and steady myself and be kinder and better. Meditation and exercise work for me."

The 'Shooter' star - who has children Ava, 17, and Deacon, 13, with ex-wife Reese Witherspoon, and daughter Kailani, seven, with former girlfriend Alexis Knapp - thinks people should be more open about their mental health struggles in order to lend support from one another.

He told Women's Health magazine: I believe that depression and mood disorders are on a spectrum akin to the way autism is, where it's an individual experience. I think people fear being stigmatised or treated in a blanket fashion, which is sometimes the response to someone who says, 'I struggle with depression.'

"But really, depression could manifest in a thousand different ways depending on who it is. I don't think there's any reason not to talk about it. We can help each other cope and give tools that we learn along the way."

While Ryan appears in horror movie 'Wish Upon', he insists there's nothing supernatural that scares him and he finds the "unpredictable" world and having teenagers far more frightening subjects.

Asked what scares him, he said: "Very little. I try to scare myself. I've been on locations where people are like, 'Don't go on the fifth floor! It's haunted.'

"I'll be the first one to go to the fifth floor. But the world is chaotic and unpredictable, and there's so much random violence out there. And when you have [teenage kids], there are things you worry about when they're going out. Those would be my fears."

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