Singer Melanie Chisholm, aka Mel C or Sporty Spice, has spoken about the benefits of having weekly therapy sessions.
The 45-year-old, who has previously shared her battle with depression, spoke about how she felt at her lowest, when she struggled to get out of bed.
“It all came tumbling down around the millennium when I was in LA with my family and I started to feel very low,” Chisholm told Women’s Health. “I was binge eating, I couldn’t stop crying. I literally felt like I was going mad, so I came back to the UK and saw my GP, and the first thing he diagnosed me with was depression.
“It felt like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders. I was like, ‘oh my gosh, it’s something, it has a name and it can be treated’. That was day one of my recovery.”
Chisholm said she has weekly therapy sessions – and acknowledged that not everyone has the luxury to do that. “But it’s really important for me,” she said. “Even if sometimes I dread it. Often I’m not looking forward to it, but I can bitch and moan without judgement.
“It’s someone who you’re not going to offend. Therapy is bloody great – I recommend it to everybody.”
The mum-of-one said she has accepted that her mental health is “every changing”, where nothing stays the same.
She has a toolkit, she said, if she’s getting a bit low. The first thing she gets rid of is alcohol – “it makes me feel anxious” – and then she makes sure she is getting enough sleep, eating properly, and exercising.
• Read the full Mel C interview in the November 2019 Mind Issue of Women’s Health, on sale from 1 October 2019.