Jesse Eisenberg says being a father has helped ease his anxiety.
The 35-year-old actor has been open about his mental health struggle in the past, but has said since becoming a father for the first time two years ago – when his wife Anna Strout gave birth to their son Banner – he’s become less anxious, because fatherhood has made him focus his worrying habits on things that are "real".
Speaking during a Child Mind Institute event in New York with the charity’s president Harold Koplewicz said: "To me, there’s nothing better for one’s mental health than to worry about things that are real, and when you have a child, you can only worry about something that’s real.
"I resist all of the temptations I have to make [my son] neurotic, because I know it’s not helpful. I know that what might feel good in the moment of consoling a kid who appears nervous may be detrimental in the long term."
Jesse suffers from obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) along with his anxiety, and also admitted he was admitted to a psychiatric hospital when he was just 11.
The ‘Zombieland’ star has worked with the Child Mind Institute before, when he starred in a 2017 video for their #MyYoungerSelf initiative, in which he gave some helpful tips to a young Jesse.
He said at the time: "I would probably tell myself two things. One is that it’s not the worst thing in the world to have those feelings, even though it might feel like the worst thing in the world. It might feel like this kind of horror is permanent and that almost anything else would be better than this feeling.
"But actually, having that anxiety might be indicative of other kind of, you know, beneficial, positive characteristics like sensitivity to the world or an empathy or maybe a kind of interesting or unusual perception of life that could benefit you over the long term."
In the video – which was titled ‘OCD And What I Would Tell My Younger Self’ – Jesse also spoke about the importance of charity.
The ‘Now You See Me’ star added: "I think the other thing I would tell myself is to try to get involved with kind of charitable outreach earlier. I’ve worked with like people with terminal illnesses and volunteered at a domestic violence shelter.
"And you realise very quickly that other people have bigger problems than you, and it kind of puts your life in perspective in a healthy way, and it also gets you out of your own kind of bad, cyclical thinking patterns. And of course, more importantly, it’s helping somebody else."
Jesse Eisenberg: Fatherhood has eased my anxiety
