The actress, who portrayed Barb in the first season of the Netflix series, opens up in a new Teen Vogue essay that she suffered a mental breakdown the night before a big test at school.

AceShowbiz - "Stranger Things" star Shannon Purser has opened up about her mental health struggles in a new Teen Vogue essay. The actress, who portrayed tragic Barb in the first season of the cult show, has revealed she suffered a mental breakdown the night before a big biology test at school and told her mother she wanted to die.

"Up until that point, I'd been wearily battling the demons that plagued me every day; silently suffering and feeling completely unable to share my thoughts with anyone," she writes. "That night, though, I gave up. My will to fight was gone, and as my mother tried to help me finish the project, I broke down and said what I'd been thinking, 'I don't want to be alive.' "

Her struggles were eventually diagnosed as obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and depression, which came as a huge relief to the actress. "Now my struggles had a name and could be reckoned with," she adds. "Looking back, I wish I'd been able to reach out for help sooner."

On Friday, May 4, Shannon thanked the Teen Vogue editors for publishing her essay on teen depression, tweeting, "Thanks so much @TeenVogue for giving me this opportunity. I hope someone will read this and feel a little more understood and a little less alone."

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