The Ladies Open Up About Mental Health Struggles & How They Take Care Of Themselves | Loose Women

26 September 2025


The Ladies Open Up About Mental Health Struggles & How They Take Care Of Themselves | Loose Women



Linda opens up about caring for her mental health after a difficult time a few years back, and our Loose panel share their hints and hacks for caring for the mind.

From series 26, broadcast on 22/08/22

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we've had another question from connor who says i am a father of two who suffered from ocd and bipolar disorder all my life or my adult life i'm grateful for medication but some days um i just held compared to others so how do you manage your mental health linda i'm going to go to you first with this one again well i like connor i've got a little bit of ocd so it has to be really clean and at the moment we've got mice in our house so it's been quite stressful but i have had really bad mental health problems like a few years ago i was off work for two years um and i turned to drink um so i always drink wine overnight time spritzers come 10 o'clock at night but never drunk of a daytime and then i got on some medication that sent me a bit mad i got put on a certain drug which was supposed to help my depression and that but it didn't it just heightened it so i had to go into three different establishments and it was the worst time in my life i completely ruined my family's life you were there we were in ibiza and i had a proper breakdown with all the girls out there and stacy had to bring me home and take me to one of the well the priory yeah that took me to the priory and then i went from there to another establishment so for two years i had really really bad depression was self-harming and was cleaning everywhere that i went and when i got home then i'd clean my bedding every day and just but um i just think i've managed to sort of get myself back to where i was before i'm off of all medication i don't take any i haven't drunk for three years now and i don't miss it i mean i used to yeah i love my spritzes overnight time and that so but what i find that helps is if you keep yourself busy if you work out what you're going to do during the day so you keep yourself busy and you haven't got time to sit and think about it i remember you worried about a difficult time you had that real routine no matter how crazy it was do you remember you do yoga all the time it became like this yoga queen yeah and it really really yeah in terms of advice to connor would it be then to to try and keep busier in in life so you're not with your own thoughts yeah i think if you've got too much time on your hand then you sit and think about things all the day so i try and work out in the morning i'm going to go i'm going to get my shopping at that time if i've got loose swimming if i wake up in the morning i'm going to work with my mates every day it's like yeah i can't wait to get into work and see everybody and it keeps me really busy and then i'm concentrating on what we're talking about that day rather than other things that you would be that would worry you or depress you or anything but the ocd is really a really horrible thing to have it really really is and most of my never know until i saw like she couldn't have any rubbish in the hair something to be taken outside if it had to be clean yeah and like we were washing our hands and using like you know hand washing that long before we went into covid and watching around about 20 times a day but i've managed to keep that at bay as well now just by keeping busy and i read as well i read books and that so i try not to watch too much to tv and sit and read a book and that and then it just takes your mind off and you've stopped spending because you had a real problem with the phone as well and i think a lot of people i use it sometimes badly yeah i go on my phone to distract from what's going on but it actually exacerbates it and it really did for you that was a huge part of your thing wasn't it a hundred percent all the time and i always had the little battery packs that i take everywhere so one of your phones right now i'd always have a spare battery pack yeah i did everything yeah yeah yeah in terms of mental health nadia what do you do to kind of preserve it well i i'm i'm exercise is a really important thing most important thing is a walk every day i do yoga i do weight training um i talk a lot i talk a lot i have a huge amount of gratitude for my life because i've never suffered with my mental health as you know speaking about my husband has bipolar too and suffered with depression and anxiety a dear friend here i've seen the hell of it and i am so grateful and i look after my mental health because i i know what a valuable thing it is because when you struggle with it it's so it's so painful yeah i think it's painful for everyone around you yeah yeah and i think i'm with you with the exercise thing the last few weeks have been really really hectic for me and i haven't had time to do as much exercise i would do normally and i miss feel it yeah so i'm also not sleeping as well and all those sorts of things exercise impacts just about every part of your being i think yeah and exercise is thing that i would sort of use to sort of you know keep myself on an even kill especially as frantic as my life tends to be that's what i tend to do what do you do yeah do you know what i'm going to get my phone out on telly which i know you shouldn't do but i've got something written in my notes section that i read that really really helps me and also i must say thank you to connor because for a man to write in with this is so important and to say you're taking medication is really important because it's very normal to use medication and it saves people's lives and it's not a sign of weakness or failure so thank you to him for saying that so i have this written on my phone you must let the pain visit you must allow it to teach you you must not allow it to overstay so i think what that says to me is every emotion is a good emotion every emotion is valid there's no such thing as negative emotions so what i do with my mental health is i sit with it and i i don't try and find a podcast or or go go out shopping i just sit with it and say i'm going through this and i need to and i need to let it out so that it doesn't linger and consume me yeah it will pass yeah and sometimes it takes a while to pass and then it comes back and it fluctuates but it is part of a feeling and i don't want to be disconnected to society or the world i want to feel everything yeah sometimes if you try and suppress something so i'm not going to feel it right like if i say pink elephant elephant don't think of big elephants first thing you do is think hell yeah so i i do that as well okay this right here right now i wish i i i don't like this but it's okay because it will pass yeah and then and then and it does but when you're talking about proper clinical depression and bipolar as again it's a very different thing you need the support of medication and all of that absolutely well if you are looking for support with your mental health you can go to our website where you'll find plenty of helplines listed

#Ladies #Open #Mental #Health #Struggles #Care #Loose #Women

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2 Comments
  1. I empathise with others living with OCD

  2. This was my letter! Love from America. Thank you Nanny Linda for being so relatable and real.

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