Alia Bhatt opens up about ADHD, anxiety diagnosis; says she chose not to take medication: ‘My body was heating up at social gatherings’ | Bollywood News
Alia Bhatt is one of the most popular actors of her generation in India, and in a recent interview, Alia shared her vulnerable side as she spoke about her mental health struggles. Alia shared that she was recently diagnosed with ADHD and anxiety and she has been actively working on herself to get through it and believes she is managing it well. Alia said that she was having physical reactions at social gatherings and found herself forgetting the most basic things. It was then she knew that something wasn’t right so she decided to get herself tested.
“I was recently clinically diagnosed with it (anxiety). I had a proper backing for me to not just say I am just having an anxious day, it’s not just that. ADHD and anxiety. And I actually sought it out only because I was actually finding it very hard. My body was heating up at social gatherings and I was physically responding to it. I was also finding it hard to focus on certain things. My focus was going in and out,” she shared with Jay Shetty on his podcast.
Alia said that she believed herself to be an “amazing multi-tasker” but gradually realised that all this multi-tasking was taking a toll on her. She felt that she needed to understand why it was impacting her as she found that she was starting to forget the most basic things around her. “So I did a test, professional test, not like some random personality test or something, over three days. And I was diagnosed with ADHD and anxiety,” she said and expressed that this gave her immediate relief and happiness as he now knew the cause of her discomfort.
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“It gave me information so whenever there’s a lack of information is when I get most thrown off,” she said and added, “The minute I was aware of these things, it’s actually made dealing much simpler.” Alia said that she has chosen to not be on any medication and shared, “I am not on any medication or anything although I can be but I chose not to and I am just actively working on it to help get through it. And I think I manage pretty well.”
Alia said that her need to find an answer increased after she welcomed her daughter Raha as she did not want to forget things about her. “The need for getting in more in order came after being a mum because I was like I don’t want to forget anything related to my daughter. I think that was my big fear,” she said.
Talking about how the diagnosis gave her some kind of relief, Alia explained that she now had a reason as to why she was feeling a certain way. “There’s a lot of noise and chatter in your brain and you feel like ‘is it just my brain? Or is it just something that is happening to me today?’ The minute you find an answer to it, you feel it was not just something I was making up for myself. It’s comforting to know that you had an inclination that something was holding you back from going about your day in a specific way. Now there is an answer to it,” she said.
