Little Mix singer Perrie Edwards has come out in the open to talk about her mental health struggles. A series of Hollywood celebrities from movies to the music industry are coming out of their comfort zone to talk about this subject and their struggles. The 25-year-old singer took to Instagram to share her experience when she suffered from bad anxiety and panic attacks.
Perrie Edwards started her Instagram post like this, "I'd like to open up about something. Venting your feelings is healthy and I want to be honest with you all. Over the past few years, I have suffered really badly with anxiety and panic attacks. When I first started to feel the effects of anxiety I thought I was losing my mind and it terrified me. I felt so alone and like I was the first person in the world to ever experience it."
Edwards then went over the details of her panic attacks. "The first panic attack was so intense and overwhelming I felt like I was having a heart attack, I was so scared and confused and had no idea what was happening to me. I'm not sure what triggered that first one but it soon spiralled & I found myself in a really dark place, feeling alone and scared. I had people around me but I couldn't explain to them what was happening to me or why. It affected me so badly that I didn't even want to leave the house. I would step foot out the door and feel the overwhelming need to go straight back inside. It completely took over my life. I'm happy to say that the physical attacks have stopped but unfortunately, the anxiety still lives on. The reality is it probably always will," she continued in her post.
Further stating how she is not the only one struggling with anxiety and stress, Edwards stated, "It feels like the most unnatural thing in the world but the thing that helped me the most was discovering I'm not alone. I'm not the only person going through this. There are people all over the world feeling the exact same way I do! As soon as I realised I wasn't going insane I felt more eager to beat it. I had therapy and I surround myself with my loved ones. Talking to someone relieves you of SO MUCH STRESS. I worked out coping mechanism's and learned what the triggers are so that I can fight the attacks before they take hold. I restricted my time on social media which often made me feel trapped and claustrophobic. I took control of my life and accepted what I couldn't control."
Interestingly, back in 2017, her former boyfriend, singer Zayn Malik also opened up about struggling from anxiety and dealing with it. In an interview with Vogue, the former One Direction singer stated, "Personally I am not a very outgoing...person. Like, in terms of big groups of people. It's been a year since I've properly shown my face. I'm not always trying to be pretentious or say something that I think is going to change the world. I feel like I'm one voice among millions." Recently celebrities such as Sophie Turner, Justin Bieber, Britney Spears, Taraji P, Henson and more have spoken about their mental health struggles.
