Mhairi Black reveals she is being tested for autism as she opens up on mental health battles

Ms Black, who stood down at the general election last year, said she feared she was “losing it” during her time in Westminster.

The former SNP MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire South said she lost weight because she was “just throwing up all the time” due to her anxiety.

Ms Black, who became the youngest MP in centuries when she was elected in 2015 at the age of 20, was signed off work for three months in late 2017 into 2018.

In a new BBC documentary, Mhairi Black: Being Me Again, which will be available on iPlayer from Friday, she opens up about this period for the first time.

The former SNP deputy Westminster leader said being diagnosed with ADHD was “life-changing” and revealed she is now being tested for autism.

“I think pre-diagnosis, I’d drink, to tell you the truth,” she said. “I don’t think it’s any secret I enjoy a pint. But then I was starting to realise, ‘Oh, you’re going for a pint like every day now’.

“I don’t mean I was going and getting steaming every night or anything, but just kind of flailing through life, in a sense.

“There was one day, I think it was me talking to young people, and in the middle of talking to them I was having a raging panic attack. It was like every day was turning into that.

“I was losing so much weight, because I was just throwing up all the time. It was just pure anxiety.”

Ms Black said she fell into depression and her doctor signed her off work. She added: “Now when I look back, that was burnout. I just thought, I’m losing it.”

She said learning about ADHD was “the missing piece of the puzzle”.

The former politician said: “From my own experience of being diagnosed with ADHD, it was life-changing getting that diagnosis because it confirmed to me that I wasn’t at it.

“I’m starting to realise that a lot of the traits that I put down to my ADHD, there’s actually a crossover between ADHD and autism, and I’m beginning to wonder whether I’m autistic as well, rather than purely ADHD.”

Ms Black said she is now “going through the process of being tested for autism”, adding: “One of the big things that I’m now really enjoying is being able to talk about this stuff openly.

“There’s lots of things that make more sense through the lens of autism. So yeah, I’ve started the process, so who knows how long it will take. Next chapter, possibly.”

Elsewhere, she said she did not yet know what she will do after frontline politics. “I’m looking forward to just being me again and seeing where that takes me next,” she said.

Ms Black has previously spoken of the “toxic” environment in Westminster, calling it “one of the most unhealthy workplaces that you could ever be in”.