Featured Image Credit: YouTube/BBC Sounds
Topics: Lily Allen, Mental Health, Money, Podcast, Celebrity
Lauren Lees
Topics: Lily Allen, Mental Health, Money, Podcast, Celebrity
Multi-century chart topper Lily Allen has shared that she is in therapy for a surprising addiction.
She spoke about the matter on her Miss Me? podcast on Monday (December 22), with co-host and childhood friend, television presenter Miquita Oliver.
On the show, the pair often discuss the highs and lows of their private lives, major pop culture moments, celebrity culture, sex, politics, social issues and more, and the most recent episode saw Allen reveal that she is receiving therapy, having last done a session just one day before recording.
It's just one of the personal topics Allen has opened up about recently, having released her album West End Girl on October 24, where she sings about infidelity, a struggle with sobriety, substance abuse and self-worth.
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However, her podcast touches on another personal matter entirely: a spending addiction, and an issue with shopping more generally.
Allen shared the reason that she suspects is behind the addiction, saying: “I think I try and get rid of it [money] because I don’t think I deserve it. It’s related to my sense of self-worth and we [Allen and her therapist] tried to separate the two.”
During the open conversation, the singer spoke honestly about her experience with her addiction and her preferred type of therapy, EMDR.
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She said: “I actually did EMDR therapy yesterday.”
Allen explained the nature of EMDR therapy to her co-host, adding: “There’s like, what do you call it? Like stimuli that stimulate the left side and the right side of your brain, and basically try and create new pathways in relation to certain behaviors or traumatic experiences or traumatic interactions with certain human beings or anything really.”
Noting she is ‘not a doctor’, Allen referred to it as a ‘special kind of therapy’.
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“I started doing EMDR about four months ago, five months ago,” Allen said, before adding: “It’s like been life-changing. I just absolutely love it.”
The artist noted: “I am not a doctor and I am not qualified to give that kind of advice. But this is what is working for me currently.”
According to the Cleveland Clinic, EMDR therapy does not require a patient to talk in detail about a distressing issue, but instead focuses on 'changing the emotions, thoughts or behaviors that result from a distressing experience'.
"This allows your brain to resume a natural healing process," the site explains.
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If you've been affected by addiction and want to speak to someone in confidence, you can call American Addiction Centers on (888) 324-0595, available 24/7, or contact them through their website.