Ronnie O'Sullivan admits he has been 'scared' to play snooker recently as he opens up on his mental struggles with the sport.
The seven-time world champion has reached another final at the Tour Championship this weekend but says he has a lot of work to put in to get out of his current mindset.
O'Sullivan is participating in his final tournament before he aims to win a record-breaking eighth World Championship at the Crucible.
He has already won five competitions this season, including the first two Triple Crown events at the UK Championship and the Masters.
Ronnie O'Sullivan admits he has been scared to play snooker
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The Rocket beat Ali Carter in the quarter-final in Manchester on Wednesday before being drawn against Gary Wilson in Friday's semi-final.
Wilson gave O'Sullivan a tough test, with the match level at 4-4 after the first session.
The 38-year-old was determined to stick in for the long haul and took it to 7-7 before O'Sullivan mopped up three frames in a row to win in fine style.
He will now face either Mark Williams or Mark Allen in Sunday's final.
O'Sullivan said this week that he has again been in discussion with sports psychiatrist Dr Steve Peters.
Following his win over Wilson, he admitted he is in a better place than he was a fortnight ago.
O'Sullivan told ITV: "I'm just trying really hard to not get down on myself. It's hard but I'm trying to just change my mindset and stick... it's not easy.
"Maybe two weeks ago I'd have mentally thrown the towel in just because I wasn't flowing.
"But I just kept thinking keep going, keep going, keep going, and focus on some of the positives that might be around the corner.
"Yeah [I've spoken to Peters] every day, three times a day, four times a day sometimes."
O'Sullivan says he must continue to speak to Peters in order to put himself in the best position mentally.
He added: "I've just got to commit to it for a good year and try and get myself out of this hole I've got myself in mentally with this obsession with the game, tinkering.
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Ronnie O'Sullivan is in the final of the Tour Championship on Sunday
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"And I know I'm never going to stop tinkering but I've got to somehow get my head strong enough to be able to deal with it and not go too deep into that horrible, murky world that it is.
"Every sportsman, golfers, tennis players, snooker player, darts, we all do it.
"But I went so deep into it. It's like detoxing myself from it in a way, it's not going to happen straight away.
"So if I want to get out of it I've got to put a lot of hard work in."
Ronnie O'Sullivan beat Gary Wilson in the Tour Championship semi-final
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O'Sullivan pulled out of the German Masters and Welsh Open earlier this year due to anxiety.
He says he has had a fear of playing, admitting: "I've kind of felt like I've had the yips, mentally, physically, you get scared to even want to go and play and that's not a nice place to be.
"So I got nothing left to do other than mentally get myself out of it. Hopefully, my game will start to flow again, maybe."
