It was announced last month that the 2014 Olympic team bronze medallist would take time off but the kind of assistance she would be receiving was not detailed.

The 22-year-old has now revealed in a statement she is undergoing  treatment for an eating disorder, as well as depression and anxiety.

Gold was scheduled to begin the 2018 Olympic season at the Japan Open, an invitational team competition in Saitama on October 7, but has pulled out.

The American has now also decided to withdraw from the Grand Prix events in Beijing and Grenoble in November.

"It saddens me deeply to sit out this Grand Prix Series, but I know it is for the best," Gold said.

"I am currently in treatment for depression, anxiety and an eating disorder.

"I will not have adequate training time to prepare and compete at the level that I want to."

This news casts further doubt over whether Gold will compete at Pyeongchang 2018.

The US are due to hold their Olympic trials for figure skating in January, where three spots will be available for the Games in South Korea.

Current favourites are Sochi 2014 Olympian Ashley Wagner, Vancouver 2010 Olympian Mirai Nagasu and reigning US champion Karen Chen.

Gold fell from first place to fourth at the 2016 World Championships in Boston, and won the silver medal at the 2012 World Junior Championships in Minsk.

She last competed at the US Championships in January, placing sixth.

In August it was announced that Yulia Lipnitskaya, a member of the Russian squad that won the Olympic team gold medals at Sochi 2014, had retired at the age of only 19.

Her mother revealed she had decided to quit the sport after receiving treatment for an eating disorder.