Landon Barker opened up about his “awful” experience struggling with alcohol abuse and mental health issues last year.
“It originally started with a bad habit with alcohol,” Travis Barker’s son told People in an interview published Monday.
“I was abusing it and just abusing that substance,” the 20-year-old recalled, adding that he had been suffering from depersonalization-derealization disorder 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.”
Landon previously opened up about his mental health on social media in August 2022.
“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,” the “Friends With Your Ex” singer shared on his Instagram Story at the time.
According to the Mayo Clinic, depersonalization-derealization disorder causes people to feel as though their surroundings are not real and may make them feel disconnected from emotions and those around them.
Landon told People that his struggle with the psychological disorder and subsequent alcohol abuse became a repetitive cycle.
“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.”
However, the musician said he stopped drinking “around this time last year” after suffering a concussion.
“When I got my concussion, I kind of just had to deal with it and I would just, I don’t know, I just hated life for three or four months,” he said.
“I remember I would just go to the hospital once a week just because I would have such bad panic attacks from everything that was going on.”
Though it was never directly addressed, Landon hinted at being in the hospital back in August 2022 when he posted an image of his medical bracelet.
As for his current drinking habits, the “Death of California” singer told the outlet that he only consumes alcohol in moderation.
“I think 100 percent it’s important for me to not make that a habit again,” he shared, adding, “I always tell myself, ‘I’ll only drink on special occasions now.’ I just steer away from everything.”
