Singer Sam Smith tells of struggle with panic attacks, anxiety and depression

Speaking to Zane Lowe in an Apple Music interview which will air on Sunday, the singer said they think they have suffered from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

“I’ve always been sad, but for the first time I actually really had mental health issues, like panic attacks, anxiety, depression,” they told the programme.

“It really hit me hard. I think it was PTSD probably from before.”

Smith, 28, who uses they/them pronouns, added that the ending of a relationship “didn’t help, but it was a tough time, really tough”.

“The adrenaline high that you hit when you’re on stage, that when you come off, the silence in a changing room is really, really tough.

“It’s taken me six, seven years to actually work out what I need to make that OK.

“I’m nervous about the next tour too, but I think the energy will be different on the next tour.”

Smith’s new album Love Goes will be released on October 30.

It was originally titled To Die For but Smith renamed it because the title did not “feel right” amid a global pandemic.

Smith also told Apple Music: “The album was safe, but I’m not ashamed of that, because at a moment of such unsafety in my life, all I wanted to feel was safe.

“So that’s honest to me. Pushing myself during that second album would have been probably detrimental to my health because I wasn’t in the right space.”