Pop star Zayn Malik uses songwriting as a form of therapy, to help him deal with his severe anxiety issues.
The former One Direction singer went public with his personal struggles in June (16) after pulling out of a big London gig - his first solo show in the U.K. - at the last minute, revealing he was dealing with "the worst anxiety of my career".
He later axed another solo concert set to take place in Dubai in October (16) as he continued to battle the mental health problem.
Now Zayn has opened up about how he is dealing with the issue, revealing putting pen to paper, whether in the form of a song or diary, seems to work wonders for him.
"I feel like writing anything down is a little bit of a therapy process," he explained to New York DJ Elvis Duran. "It's a way of alleviating your mind and getting it out there."
The singer, who left One Direction last year (15), admits revisiting and reevaluating his past for his recently-released autobiography also helped him put things into perspective.
"For me, it was a little bit of that (therapy)," he shared. "I kind of enjoyed it. It was fun to reminisce on things and think about what was good and what was bad and make sense of it all. I didn't have time to do that in the band."
Zayn is currently enjoying living on his own in Los Angeles as he focuses on his solo career, because he is no longer as stressed as he was when he was still a part of the boy band.
"I'm enjoying what I'm doing at the minute," he said. "When I was in the band, there were times where I needed time away to go see my family and recollect my thoughts. But right now, I feel like I have the time to process things, and I'm doing things in my own space, so it's a good place to be in."
However, the singer can always rely on his friends and family in his hometown of Bradford, England to keep him grounded.
"Where I'm from, people are very easily ready to pull you down to the earth when you get a bit big headed," he remarked. "I'm thankful for that because one of the things that I like to hold onto in my personality is the fact that I'm quite grounded..."
He added, "I feel myself growing every day as a person, as we all do, just getting older and wiser hopefully."
