DAVID ARCHULETA was only 17 when he was the runner-up on Season Seven of "American Idol" . . . and if you remember, he had a great voice, but he always seemed like a wide-eyed, deer in the headlights.
Well, now he thinks he suffered PTSD from his time on the show.
He says, quote, "[It's] just all the pressure . . . you become this TV character, but it's with your own name, parts of who you actually are, but other parts that are portrayed in a way that you're not. Then everyone feels like they know you, and they know what you are, and they know how to treat you, and have certain expectations . . . [And] eight, nine, 10, 11 years later, we're still kind of stuck in some of those patterns of thinking."
David says that he WOULDN'T take back his time on the show, and fellow former contestant Melinda Doolittle referred him to a therapist who specializes in treating former reality show stars.
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