UK comedian Jimmy Carr recently shared he suffers from severe anxiety, but says accepting he has anxiety has helped him.
Beaming in from London, Carr told The Project on Thursday he wrote a book during last year's lockdown where he wrote at length about his anxiety.
"I think it's the flip side to creative minds. If your mind is always worrying and thinking about jokes or whatever, then suddenly when you try and get some sleep, you wake up at 4am with a panic attack."
He said the first time a panic attack occurs is "a bit scary", but said talking about it and being open is hugely beneficial.
"You can white-knuckle it. It depends what it's like for you. It's a nice thing to talk about because it's kind of like observational comedy," he said.
"It's like the idea that people go, 'Oh I've got that, oh I've never noticed that'."
He added that before COVID-19 hit, one in four people suffered from mental illness but post-COVID he said that's changed.
"We've all had days, we've all had terrible days, so it makes everyone slightly more empathetic. That's maybe the silver lining."
Watch the full interview above.
