the Umbrella Academy is a superhero-ish movie or not a good movie it's a series
over on Netflix and in this video we're specifically going to be talking about
the way this show depicted addiction in the character Klaus hargreeves played by robert sheehan what is up everybody
this is Chris from the rewired soul where we talk about the problem but
focus on the solution and if you're new to my channel my channel is all about
mental health and what I like to do sometimes is pull different movies or TV
shows kind of look at a mental health topic like addition and just talk about
how accurate was it so if any of that stuff make sure you subscribe and bring
that notification about and before we get started I want to introduce today's
sponsor and who is that sponsor you might be asking it is the science of
addiction course alright so over on my website right now go check out the
science of addiction course it is absolutely 100% free working in a drug
and alcohol treatment center I taught this course to clients to help them
better understand why they became addicted the risk factors and you know
new solutions to helping to overcome addiction but I also taught it to family
members of the people trying to overcome addiction in that rehab center so this
entire course is over on my website they'll be linked down in the
description down in the pink comment it's 100% free and even if you don't
think it'll benefit you to learn more about the actual science of addiction we
need to end this stigma so please do me a favor and just spread it around share
with other people so they understand what addiction really is and how we can
help more people alright but yeah anyways let's get started let's talk
about the Umbrella Academy okay and those of you who have not watched the
Umbrella Academy yet over on Netflix there will be spoilers alright so go
check it out come back watch it or if you're not planning on watching it just
watch this video we're gonna have a good time alright so those of you who don't
know me I am a drug addict and alcoholic in recovery I've been clean since June
23rd 2012 no drugs no alcohol my substances of choice started with
alcohol went into prescription medications specifically opioids alright
so in the Umbrella Academy you have the character Klaus alright
Klaus is somebody who struggles with addiction so I'm not exactly sure I'm
not a childish or if his addiction was to opiates or benzodiazepines okay so I
was a prescription pill addict and mine was opiates but they never really say
which drug causes using but I'm assuming it's one of those two most likely
opioids because opioid is the major problem so first let's talk about why
Klaus became addicted in the first place so in this show
Klaus is super power is that he could talk to the dead alright
and his father was trying to help him overcome that fear by like locking him
in like what is that called a mausoleum like at a graveyard so you know all of
the you know dead people would come and talk to him scared the crap out of him
well what he found was the only way that he can kind of turn that off was through
self-medicating with drugs right and like this is very real this is very real
this is how so many people become addicted so the two leading causes of
addiction are untreated or undiagnosed mental illness right and what happens is
is people start self-medicating and what we do is we we while our brain into
believing that the best way to deal with those voices is to take drugs that's
actually how my addiction started from a young age in middle school in high
school I started developing you know severe symptoms of depression and
anxiety and at the end of the high at the end of high school when I started
drinking that become my became my way to self-medicate like the first time I got
drunk I was like oh my god the voices in my head stop like all the self-doubt and
you know the self hatred or hatred towards other people or my social
anxiety all these things went away so this is why certain people become
addicted so what we have to do especially when it comes to the next
generation by generation Z our children or even ourselves because I know I have
you know an audience like in the millennial era and stuff like that like
we have to find better ways to cope that do not involve drugs and alcohol because
at first it becomes you know substance abuse then it becomes the pen
then it becomes a full-blown addiction alright so in the show they depicted
withdrawal quite a bit with Klaus so this this was done moderately well I
would say so again I'm not sure which substances class was using but when it
comes to something like opioids like I did a cold turkey detox which you should
never ever ever do always get the help of a medical facility or like a
qualified detox facility is usually your best bet but like with opioid detox like
you have like flu-like symptoms you can have restless leg you know you have a
lot of pains and eggs like I remember I felt like a 90 year old man I could
barely move there's a lot of vomiting there's a lot of you know stuff coming
out the other end there's all sorts of stuff it is brutal now when it comes to
benzodiazepines this could be similar but one of the risks of benzodiazepine
withdrawal is having seizures all right so constant experience any seizures in
that but you can see how even when he wasn't using for a period of hours he
would start to feel the symptoms of withdrawal that's why you know he was
constantly on the hunt for substances until he got sober later which we're
gonna touch on but for a lot of people who have an addiction like you're no
longer drinking or using in order to get high or get drunk you're simply doing it
to feel well right because our body is always trying to maintain equilibrium
and as soon as the substances start to metabolize in our system like our body
starts to react in both psychological as well as physical ways so we start to do
whatever it takes to get more and and this is one of the reasons why people
start to do crappy things like you saw Klaus steal his his his dead father's
backs right to go sell it and that's why and it's not an excuse but it's a reason
why a lot of addicts do a lot of really shady things in order to get their fix
because they fear withdrawal that much and that's one of the reasons why
addicts don't stay clean is because of how harsh withdrawal can actually be oh
my god so as as Tristan and I were watching the Umbrella Academy this scene
right here where Klaus was being held hostage by cha-cha and hazel and
they're trying to get information out of them and they're just beating the crap
out of him he wasn't giving up any information but then when hazel and
cha-cha realized that he was a drug addict and found his weakness just all
of the information came out just all they came out of just you know cries I
please just give me my drugs you know what I mean I'm like I could definitely
definitely relate to that now you know I've never been like held hostage a bit
asked to give up you know information about my brother with superpowers or
anything but yeah like when when we're finding like we will do all sorts of
things like I just talked about you know stealing and things like that but we
will do just about anything like our morals go out the window magical
thinking out the window right like before they had that you know as
leverage against Klaus he's like what what are you gonna do what do you do and
in reality like if I put myself in that situation like the withdrawal that he
was experiencing was probably a thousand times worse than getting punched in the
face right like getting punched in the face was probably something to take his
mind off of the withdrawal so he knew the only thing that would really help
him you know get rid of his symptoms of withdrawal would be more drugs all right
so this is something where it's like it gets easier over this time I know a lot
of people are afraid of withdrawal afraid of getting clean it gets easier
over time like right now and for years now I'm not like intensely craving right
I live in Las Vegas Nevada I walk past alcohol drugs all the time weed is legal
here in Las Vegas I'm constantly surrounded by drugs every time I walk in
the store there's a pharmacy but I'm not freaking out okay the longer you stay
clean the longer you break any habit the easier it is to overcome it even longer
because you're not craving as much like in the beginning I was obsessing it was
a constant struggle hour by hour minute by minute second-by-second trying to
stay clean but today I just have a routine set up and it's not even really
up a second thought till the last thing I
want to talk about the last thing I want to talk about which was completely
inaccurate was pretty much the last few episodes where Klaus had been cleaning
for I don't know 24 or 48 hours right like well he did like try to make an
excuse to not go chase after their sister Vanya and it's like oh I'm not
feeling too good and stuff right bye other than that he was like lively and
energetic and like helping out the team and getting involved all these other
things like within 24 to 48 hours with the amount of drugs that dude was using
he would be absolutely a miserable and completely useless like the like the
amount of withdrawal that he would be going through especially without what
they call medically assisted treatment or Matt like he would be so useless like
they would be like you dude you need to stay home but like I just kind of got a
chuckle out of that because hey everybody hey team I'm here in like you
know acting all great like after a while you feel that way but that's not gonna
happen after 24 to 48 hours all right but anyways anyways if you are somebody
who's in recovery and you have watched the Umbrella Academy let me know what
your thoughts were like how do you think they did showing addiction in the
character of class let me know down in the comments below I will be doing some
more character breakdowns and plot breakdowns if there's anything you want
me to touch on specifically that you think would make for a good mental
health topic let me know down in the comments below all right anyways anyways
don't forget that the science of addiction course is free over on my
website the links are down in the description as well as in the pin
comment check it out spread the word give it to as many people as you know
let's start ending the stigma around addiction and help fight this thing
together alright anyways if you like this video please give it a thumbs up if
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