Sophie Turner, star of “Game of Thrones” has opened up about the impact social media has had on her mental health.

On Dr. Phil McGraw’s podcast, Phil in the Blanks, the 23-year-old Game of Thrones actor spoke out about her long-term mental health difficulties. “I’ve suffered with depression for about five or six years now,” the actress revealed. “The biggest challenge for me: Getting out of bed and getting out of the house — and like, learning to love yourself.”

Turner’s depression started when she was 17, four years into her role on the popular HBO show. Turner told McGraw that, while she does not believe it was the main force, she believes social media criticism contributed to her bad mental health.

“I think it was a combination of social media on the rise at that time, and also my friends were going to university, and I wasn’t going to university,” she said. “I was working, but I was still living at my parents’ house, so I felt very alone.”

Turner said that internet critics slammed her beauty and acting skills.

“People used to say, ‘Damn, Sansa gained 10 pounds’ or ‘Damn, Sansa needs to lose 10 pounds or ‘Sansa got fat.’ It was just a lot of weight comments, or I would have spotty skin, because I was a teenager, and that’s normal, and I used to get a lot of comments about my skin and my weight and how I wasn’t a good actress,” she said. “I would just believe it. I would say, ‘Yeah, I am spotty. I am fat. I am a bad actress.’ I would just believe it.”

Her self-consciousness even caused her to request that the show’s costume designers make her corsets tighter. Away from the set, she claims to have cut herself apart from friends and family.

“I just would cry and cry and cry over just getting changed and putting on clothes and be like, ‘I can’t do this. I can’t go outside. I have nothing that I want to do,” she said.

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, around 17.3 million individuals in the United States experienced at least one major depressive episode in 2017. Depression can produce weariness, a depressed or gloomy attitude, and even suicidal thoughts. According to the NIMH, severe symptoms have an influence on how you feel, think, and handle daily tasks such as sleeping, eating, and working. Turner stated that she felt some of these symptoms, telling McGraw: “I had no motivation to do anything or go out. Even with my best friends; I wouldn’t want to see them; I wouldn’t want to go out and eat with them.”

Turner is now in a much better position as a result of therapy and medication. She admits she tries not to overanalyze her figure when she looks in the mirror and avoids internet comment sections. Her boyfriend, musician Joe Jonas, is also a huge help.

“I love myself more now than I used to,” she said. “I’m with someone that makes me realize I do have some redeeming qualities, I suppose, and when someone tells you they love you every day, it makes you really think about why that is, and I think it makes you love yourself a bit more.”

When it comes to social media, she has also begun to tune out. During the interview, McGraw sought to comfort Turner, saying, “They don’t know you, and they wouldn’t say that to you in an elevator. They’re keyboard bullies.”