Will Young has shared that his battle with crippling anxiety left him struggling to leave the house for days, as he detailed the moment he ‘suffered a panic attack while speaking to his postwoman’ in a candid new interview.
The Pop Idol star, 46, has previously shared that he’d been diagnosed with complex PTSD, and admitted he’s undergone a ‘lot of therapy’ to manage his demons.
Will shared that he’d had ‘a difficult time’ with his emotions over the past few months, and in some instances would spend days lying in bed.
The star added that his anxiety can be ‘isolating’ at times, and while he’s sought solace in gardening, he has also relied on ‘thought-blocking’ to manage it as well as sharing his struggles with others.
Will said: ‘I’ve been having a difficult time with my emotions, but I always think it’s really good to be transparent about it, so yeah I have been struggling, but I’m feeling like I can sort of come up for air now.
‘I’ve found this really good person that sort of helps deal with stored trauma in the body, so that’s really helping.’
Will Young has shared his battle with crippling anxiety left him struggling to leave the house, as he detailed the moment he ‘suffered a panic attack while speaking to the postwoman’
Speaking to longtime pals Jo Whiley and Zoe Ball on their Dig It podcast, Will continued: ‘I think what’s really difficult for me, is that it presents as anxiety. So it doesn’t matter if I’m around, I mean I can get anxious around the post person, literally like ”why am I having a panic attack around the post person?”
‘But it does help, because last week I was doing something with dogs, and I love animals, so at least having a person helps get past that anxiety.
‘It’s quite interesting, because I was talking to someone the other day about anxiety, and they were like ”oh is it all to do with work?” I’m like: ”No I feel it very physically, I don’t really feel it in my head as much.
‘I’m not a worrier, I sort of got on top of that quite a few years ago, and I do a lot of therapy… I’m more of the model that stuff that’s stuck in the body drives the mind, because something comes up in the body and then the mind goes, because the mind is a problem-fixing tool, it wants to go ”what’s going on?”
‘But if it’s something from our past, let’s say I’m opening the door to the postwoman and yet I’m having a shame attack in front of the postwoman it doesn’t make sense.
‘My brain wants to work it out, and that’s why we can get into difficulties, because if it doesn’t marry up with what’s going on in our present day, we get in a bit of a tizz.
‘That’s what’s been going on with me, just very strong feelings in my body, and kind of, almost like freezing, and I’ve had it for a few years.
‘But I think the positive side of this is that I used to be a lot more dissociated, and I’m not now. I’m just sort of confronting stuff.’
The Pop Idol star has previously shared that he’d been diagnosed with complex PTSD, and admitted he’s undergone a ‘lot of therapy’ to manage his demons
The star added that his anxiety can be ‘isolating’ at times, and while he’s sought solace in gardening, he has also relied on ‘thought-blocking’ to manage it
Will admitted that his anxiety can manifest in different ways, and in some instances can lead him to feel ‘shameful’ of his behaviour.
He continued: ‘You think you’ve dealt with something and then ”oh that’s come up again? Why am I feeling this uncontrollable grief suddenly?
‘And I think there’s two crucial things that have been a big game-changer for me.
‘It’s how you come into a relation with whatever’s going on for you, and that can be very difficult in itself, but how we relate to what we’re experiencing is key, because let’s say we’re having huge amounts, waves of grief or something, and then what we want to pile on a load of shame on top of this and go ”why are you feeling like this?”
‘So how we come into relation with it, and I really try my hardest to not get stuck in my head.’
Sharing the different ways he’s learned to manage his anxiety, Will said: ‘I was still finding it difficult, but I forced myself to go out…
‘I just go back to the body and feel in my body, and I just, I call it thought-blocking, so when something comes in, I go ”you’re of no use to me, because I’m just in a triggered state, you’re off no use to me”
‘And it’s like going to the gym, practicing it for years, so thought-blocking really helps.
‘The third thing is to communicate with people, and I think I had been really struggling for a few months, and I just hadn’t told anyone apart from my boyfriend, who is amazing.
‘I just hadn’t told anyone and just thought ”well this isn’t good, because I always say to people ”don’t hide it”, so I just started sharing with people and I think that’s really helped.’
Will went on to urge others to ‘hear’ anyone who is going through similar anxiety and mental health battles, and ‘validating people’s feelings’ can be the most helpful.
The performer rose to fame when was crowned winner of Pop Idol’s debut series in 2002, but has since said backlash from the show left him feeling unwelcome in the music industry.
The performer rose to fame when was crowned winner of Pop Idol’s debut series in 2002, but has since said backlash from the show left him feeling unwelcome in the music industry
Will previously shared that for a time he was suffering panic attacks for ’24 hours a day’, and in 2016, despite being diagnosed with PTSD, went against doctors’ advice by signing up for Strictly Come Dancing.
The star – who ended up withdrawing from the show – said on the How To Fail with Elizabeth Day podcast: ‘I wish I had experienced it when I wasn’t ill because I would’ve loved it!’
‘I love dancing, I trained in ballet and contemporary. I was actually really excited about doing the show but just leaving the house going 20 yards to the corner shop was hard.
‘I was in the middle of a protracted breakdown and PTSD, and I learned very quickly I wasn’t able to do this. It was a heightened agoraphobia. Imagine having panic attacks 24 hours a day. I don’t know how I managed it, to be honest.’
‘I don’t see it as a failure but I see it as probably the hardest point of my career.’
