Ronnie O’Sullivan has spoken candidly about his battle with mental health at the Tour Championship.

He revealed that he had returned to a psychiatrist and has been in a mental “hole” despite his success this season, with five trophies already in the bag.

“I’ve just got to commit to it [speaking to a psychiatrist] now for a good year to try to get myself out of this sort of hole I’ve got myself in mentally with the obsession of the game, tinkering,” he told ITV.

“I know I’m never going to stop tinkering, but I have 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 – maybe golfers, tennis players, snooker players – I suppose we all do it, but I went so deep into that it’s like detoxing myself from it.

“It kind of felt like I’ve had the yips in a way – mentally, physically – it feels like you get scared to even want to go and play.

“That’s not a nice place to be, so I’ve got nothing left to do other than to try to get myself mentally out of it and hopefully my game will start to flow again, maybe.”