Content warning: suicidality, alcohol abuse, mental illness
Travis Barker's son Landon Barker, 20—a musician and influencer—has opened up about his struggles with alcohol abuse, as well as a number of mental health issues, including OCD, ADHD, anxiety, and dissociation.
In a new interview with People, Barker was asked about his history with mental health and derealization, which he has already spoken about on social media in the past.
"It originally started with a bad habit with alcohol," the influencer explained.
"I was abusing it and just abusing that substance, and then one day it just shocked me, and I had gone through that for months.
"It was awful, and I went through heightened OCD, heightened ADHD and heightened anxiety, all while disassociating and feeling like I was in a video game.
"I was watching my whole entire life through a movie screen. It was honestly awful. I always love to spread awareness about suicide and talk about it."
Barker went on to explain why he chose to speak about all this publicly, and how this decision has helped him.
"I feel like if you hold it in inside, it's a lot harder, and I feel like all the messages that I got when I posted about it honestly made me feel better," he said.
The musician continued, "I've always struggled with OCD, ADHD and anxiety, but yeah, disassociating and dissociation kind of just hit me like a truck last year and it was just the most awful experience.
"It kind of started with: I would drink, and then the day after, I would disassociate really bad, and that's kind of how my habit of drinking a lot started. It was like, oh, I'd feel better the second that I had a drink, and so yeah, it kind of just all started and it all kicked up really fast."
Barker explained that, even though he still gets anxious at times, therapy, medication, and doing his own research into mental health has really helped him cope.
"My derealization has been really bad and I just wanna come on here and tell everyone your [sic] not alone and we are all imperfect in our own ways. I love you guys. #mentalhealthawareness," Barker wrote in an Instagram Story in August 2022 (via Page Six).
The singer has also described his experience with OCD at length on social media, shedding light on what the disorder actually looks like beyond the many myths and preconceptions.
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