Lady Gaga has revealed she suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after being raped as a teenager.

"I told the kids I suffer from PTSD," the singer told the Today Show, after visiting a homeless shelter for young LGBT people last month.

"I've never told anyone that before," she added.

"But the kindness that's shown to me by doctors as well as my family, and my friends, it's really saved my life."

Image: Gaga leads a meditation exercise at the shelter. Pic: Lady Gaga/Twitter

The 30-year-old American singer went public in 2014 about being raped by a music producer 20 years older than her.


"I was about 19, I went to Catholic school and then all this crazy stuff happened, and I was going: Oh, is this just the way adults are. I was very naive," she told radio host Howard Stern.

"I was so traumatised by it that I was like: Just keep going," she added.

"It wasn't until I was a little bit older that I went: Wow, that was really messed up. You were 20 years older than me. I was a kid."

Her Oscar-nominated song Til It Happens To You is about the traumatic experience of being sexually assaulted.

"My own trauma in my life has helped me to understand the trauma of others," Gaga said on Monday.

"I don't have the same kinds of issues that you have, but I have a mental illness and I struggle with that mental illness every day," she added.

To the LGBTQ's @AliForneyCenter thank you for sharing your stories, trauma & pain with me & the world today. Your kindness is contagious. ❤️ — xoxo, Joanne (@ladygaga) December 5, 2016

PTSD is an anxiety disorder caused by very stressful, frightening or distressing events.

Someone with PTSD "often relives the traumatic event through nightmares and flashbacks, and may experience feelings of isolation, irritability and guilt", according to the NHS.

Lady Gaga, a strong advocate for the LGBT community, performed a song from her latest album Joanne for the group she met in New York.

"It's really important to remind kids who are suffering from a traumatic experience or from abandonment, to remind them that they're not alone, and that they're loved," she said.

"We are in this together."