James Arthur has been having therapy to address "childhood traumas".

James Arthur

James Arthur

The 'Medicine' singer - who was hospitalised last year after suffering a series of panic attacks - has taken some time out to work on his issues as he was tired of hitting "roadblocks", and he's found having someone to speak to very helpful.

He said: “There were a lot of things I needed to address. I just kept hitting roadblocks in my life — that’s clear to see, that’s the narrative in my life.

“I’m all right for a while and then I get to these points and I guess it forced me to do a lot of work on myself, be it cognitive behavioural therapy to help with the anxiety and therapy in general to address childhood traumas that I went through which I wasn’t processing properly.”

The 33-year-old singer has also found exercise vital for both his mental and physical wellbeing as a lot of his problems were a result of poor body image.

He told The Sun newspaper's Bizarre column: “For a while now I’ve been on a mission to get in the sort of shape that I’m happy with.

“I think I’m on the way to being in the best shape I’ve been in. It’s associated with those sorts of roadblocks I would hit in my life. Image is part of all of that.

“If you can at least look at yourself in the mirror and like what you see in terms of your body, I think that can go a long way with your mental health.

“It’s been really good for my mental health and has helped me shift the lockdown weight that I put on in the beginning.”

Meanwhile, the 'Say You Won't Let Go' hitmaker admitted he regrets his 2017 autobiography 'Back To The Boy', in which he made claims including a fling with Rita Ora turned him into a sex addict.

He said of the book: “It was done at a time when there was just a lot of stuff going on. I’d just made my comeback and we tried to do too much at once.

“When I look back at that there’s certain things I wouldn’t have shared or have explained in the way that I did.

“If I could stop the production of the book now I probably would because there’s stuff that has affected family relationships, not long term, but at the time it hurt people.

“There’s things I shared about relationships where I should have considered the people involved a bit more, I think.”

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