Joe Tracini has blasted a mystery man who told him his anxiety "doesn’t really match up" after he was able to do a talk in front of "lots of people".
The 30-year-old actor – known for playing Dennis Savage on ‘Hollyoaks’ – has been open about his mental health issues in the past, and put them to good use by doing a talk about bullying and "living with severe anxiety" yesterday (14.11.18), but he was then approached by a guy who questioned his feelings.
In a video he shared on his Twitter account, he said: "I did a talk today for lots of people about bullying, talking about feelings and living with severe anxiety.
"After it, this grown-up man came up to me and said, ‘Anxiety can’t be that bad though can it? Because you just did that, so it doesn’t really match up.’
"I want to say to you what I wanted to say to him in the tone that I wanted to say it."
The ‘Oaks’ star then reeled off what he felt about the guy, but didn’t tell the man how he was feeling about him at the time because confrontation makes him anxious.
Joe then raised his voice and screamed: "Just because I’ve got a mental health problem it doesn’t mean I can’t do stuff, OK?
"It really is that bad. You want to know the conversation I’ve got going on in my head 80 per cent of the time with my own voice?
"It’s basically, ‘Everybody hates you.’ ‘No they don’t.’ ‘Yeah they do, everybody. You should just stop and kill yourself.’
"’That’s a jump isn’t it?’ ‘No, you should. Because you’re never going to do anything right. You’re a failure, you’re never going to get any better. So kill yourself.’
"That’s what I’m living with, OK? I don’t say that for pity, I say it because your argument is invalid.
"You have to respect people that are living with a school bully in their own head.
"It’s people like you that stop people like me being able to talk about it. If I don’t talk about it I have to listen to that chat, and that does not end well.
"So pick up people that are down and line-up behind people that are standing up. And if you don’t understand something then listen to the people who are trying to explain it, so you can learn to help.
"Obviously didn’t say any of that to him, because I don’t like confrontation. It makes me anxious."