Euphoria gave us TV's darkest teen drama yet – but just how true is it to life? Experts weigh in

Euphoria whipped up a storm when it first premiered in 2019.

The teen drama from HBO triggered outrage and moral panic with a scene featuring 30 penises (yes, 30), as well as frequent and graphic depictions of drug use, sex and violence.

The show, which released a second season in 2022, follows Rue (played by Zendaya), a 17-year-old drug addict who comes out of rehab and struggles to say sober, while also exploring the lives of her peers, who it soon emerges are equally – if not more – troubled (yes Nate, we’re looking at you), and is perhaps the darkest look at teenhood we've had on screen since Skins.

But does it offer an accurate depiction of the pressures facing Gen Z today, or is it a sensationalised portrayal of adolescence? Ahead of season 3’s release, Radio Times talks to a psychoanalyst and psychotherapist about how true to life the show’s first two seasons are.

Addiction and drug use

A lot of the criticism levelled at the series focused on its portrayal of drug use.

As well as showing Rue dealing with addiction, Euphoria depicts other characters taking drugs recreationally against the backdrop of wild and glamorous parties. Following the season 2 premiere, America’s Drug Abuse Resistance Education programme publicly accused the series of “misguidedly glorifying” teenage drug use and making it seem “common and widespread in today’s world”.

“People who are Rue's age sometimes do have an experience with addiction like that

But drug use among teens is quite common today, research indicates. A 2021 study by University College London found that almost a third of 17‑year-olds in the UK have tried cannabis, and about one in ten have experimented with harder drugs such as cocaine, ecstasy, or ketamine. And research in 2024 found that, in 2020, nearly 10 million US adolescents (1.6 million 12 to 17 years of age and 8.2 million 18 to 25 years of age) met the criteria for a substance use disorder.

“People who are Rue's age sometimes do have an experience with addiction like that. But sometimes it's more casual and experimental and doesn't enter into hard substances like Rue's did,” says licensed psychotherapist, mental health expert and founder of Truth Doctor Media Dr Courtney Tracy.

Rue’s behaviour in the series and how she interacts with others mirrors the patterns of real-world addiction, says Dr Aimee Martínez, a licensed clinical psychologist and psychoanalyst who works with older teens and young adults.

“Rue is constantly in a push and pull of her own personal hide and seek. Her moments of psychological movement and self-reflection can quickly be followed by an intrusion of the version of herself she wants to remain hidden – and she plays this out with her family, friends, and sponsor alike. That dynamic feels very true, and pretty universal.”

Although based on an Israeli series that first aired in 2012, Euphoria draws heavily from the personal experiences of series creator Sam Levinson and his own experiences of teenage drug addiction.

“I just wrote myself as a teenager,” he previously told Entertainment Weekly. “I think those feelings and memories they’re still extremely accessible to me. So it’s not a hard reach. I just write myself and what I was feeling and what I was going through when I was younger and I was dealing with addiction."

Dr Martínez also notes that the show’s depiction of Rue’s addiction feels realistic because of the ways it’s shown to be rooted in trauma. “Rue was born three days after 9/11 – which operates as an analogy for catastrophe and immense loss following her from the very beginning. Her father's death gave way to a reemergence of that earlier childhood trauma. Rue's mother did everything she could to hold the family together, but when Rue's father died, that container broke and the trauma grew.”

Euphoria also does a good job at portraying how Rue’s drug use starts in a casual and invisible way, Dr Martínez says. Where the storyline is less realistic, she notes, is in how Rue’s trajectory gets “compressed”.

“The show also doesn't highlight that many teenagers who use casually, don't become Rue,” Dr Martínez adds. “The variable isn't access, or even trauma alone – it's the intersection of neurobiological vulnerability, disrupted attachment, and loss of emotional regulation. Rue has all three. The drugs aren't the story. They're the solution to a story that started much earlier.”

Mental health

Viewers of Euphoria might also have been shocked by its brutal depictions of teenage mental health – with multiple characters suffering from panic attacks, breakdowns and mental health crises over the course of the first two seasons – but the show is closer to reality than most parents might like to admit.

Teenagers are masterful at compartmentalisation, and Euphoria takes that seriously

A 2021 study found that Gen Z is over 80 per cent more likely to report anxiety or depression compared to older generations.

“Most teens are dealing with something related to their mental health. It’s a very critical time of psychological development,” says Dr Tracy.

She adds that the show does a brilliant job of showing the complexities of the different types of mental health problems that are present across the cast. “You see it in Jules navigating gender identity and the emotional weight that comes with that. You see it in Cassie's attachment patterns and how her self-worth becomes completely tied to how she's perceived by men. You see it in Kat's relationship with her body and identity."

When it comes to its depiction of teenage mental health, one of the show’s strengths is the way it captures how teens hide and separate their emotions, says Dr Martínez.

“As an audience, we're given a privileged seat – we see what each character presents to the outside world and how profoundly that can contradict what we witness when they're alone. That gap is where the show does some of its most honest psychological work. Teenagers are masterful at compartmentalisation, and Euphoria takes that seriously. It doesn't flatten its characters into their diagnoses or their worst moments. It shows the performance and what lives underneath it – often simultaneously.”

Sex and nudity

One area where the show may stray from reality is in its depiction of sex.

From erotic dreams and intimate moments between characters to the aforementioned penis locker scene, the series is brimming with it.

But research shows that Gen Z aren’t the sexually promiscuous generation that Euphoria makes them out to be. In a 2022 survey by the Kinsey Institute and Lovehoney, one in four Gen Z adults said they had never experienced partnered sex. And according to CDC data, roughly a third of high schoolers said they’d had sex in 2023, a decline from 47 per cent in 2013.

“I would say there are more teenagers who don't have this type of relationship with sexuality as this group of teenagers do in Euphoria, and at the same time, there are definitely groups of teenagers that are this sexual,” Dr Tracy notes. “Especially these days with access to the internet and social media more than ever, sexuality is something that is less taboo, and in some ways that makes it more unserious and therefore more prolific in these populations.”

Sometimes what looks like it's written for an adult male audience is actually a pretty accurate reflection of how some teenage girls have learned to see themselves

When Euphoria first aired, eyebrows were soon raised over the show’s graphic depictions of sex and nudity, with some arguing it was for shock factor rather than to reflect real life. Others attributed what they deemed to be hypersexualised female characters to a male gaze, given that the show is created and written by Levinson.

But what might seem like it’s aimed at adult men may actually reflect how some teenage girls see themselves, Dr Tracy notes. “Where the male gaze question gets interesting is that some teenagers themselves have internalised that gaze like Cassie, so sometimes what looks like it's written for an adult male audience is actually a pretty accurate reflection of how some teenage girls have learned to see themselves.”

Toxic relationships and friendships

Other backlash surrounding the show focused on its depiction of teenage relationships, with some viewers accusing the series of romanticising toxic dynamics.

Nate (Jacob Elordi) and Maddy’s (Alexa Demie) violent relationship in particular caused shock and outrage online. In one scene, he threatens her with a gun and a game of Russian Roulette. In another, she tells him: "I really f**kin' hate you. You're abusive, psychopathic. Most of the time, I really hate the way you make me feel.”

Dr Tracy says that these relationships aren’t accurate depictions of teenage dynamics overall. “I think that most of the time, teenage relationships are more docile and more innocent. There are definitely toxic teenage relationships that exist, and alcohol use and sexual relations definitely increase the potential for a relationship to become more toxic. But when it gets to the level that it's gotten to with Nate and Maddy, with guns and abuse, that is not normal at all, and it needs to be said that that is not normal at all for any relationship, especially teenage relationships.”

Being a teenager is melodramatic. It can often feel like your entire world is falling apart

When it comes to friendships, Euphoria doesn’t shy away from drama either, and there are frequent betrayals and fallouts between the characters. In the season 2 finale, Maddy confronts her former friend Cassie (Sydney Sweeney) after discovering she’s slept with her ex, leading to a violent scene involving scratching, hair-pulling and even the slamming of Cassie’s face into the wall.

These portrayals might seem melodramatic, but the depictions of friendships in the show aren't entirely unrealistic, says Dr Tracy. “Being a teenager is melodramatic. It can often feel like your entire world is falling apart.”

Season 3

Season 3, out this weekend, is jumping forward five years in time, moving its characters out of adolescence.

Rue is still battling her sobriety and working off her debt to drug dealer Laurie in Mexico, before moving on to Texas to work as a club manager. Meanwhile, Nate and Cassie, the latter of whom now makes OnlyFans content for a living, are getting married, and Jules is an art student.

But the time jump doesn’t mean all of the characters’ struggles should just evaporate, notes Dr Martínez. She hopes that the show holds onto “the complexity it earned”.

“Adding five years of living doesn't simplify people, it builds layers and sediments them. I'm curious whether Rue's sobriety, if it holds, will be treated with the same nuance as her addiction was. If recovery continues to be part of her evolution and daily negotiation, I hope they tell that story.”

Dr Tracy also hopes that the series remains nuanced as the characters grow older. “I have hopes that they will not make everybody's outcome negative," she says. "I feel like that's important, and TV shows do that a lot. It would be great to see some of these characters recover and make it through, make good decisions for themselves and not be struggling. Of course, all adults struggle, but it would be nice to see people succeeding.

“At the same time, I want honest truths that some people still struggle and continue to make the same decisions from their teenage years into young adulthood. A good, well-rounded outcome for all of them is really what I want to see.”

Find out more about Dr Aimee Martínez's work.

Find out more about Dr Courtney Tracy’s work.

If you need help and support on issues raised within this article, please visit Samaritans, CALM, Rethink Mental Illness and Mind for guidance.

Euphoria season 3 premieres on Sky Atlantic and NOW on Monday 13 April at 9pm.

Euphoria seasons 1 and 2 are available to watch on Sky Atlantic and NOW with an Entertainment Membership.

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