'Teen Wolf' Star Dylan Sprayberry Reveals He Joined Scientology After Getting Sober: 'It's Been an Epic Experience'

Dylan Sprayberry is opening up about the decision to join the Church of Scientology three years after he became a member.

The Teen Wolf alum said he turned to the religion after getting sober, explaining it helped him address the mental health struggles that led him to drugs in the first place.

"I'm a Scientologist. I've been a Scientologist for three years now," Sprayberry said in an Instagram video on Sunday, July 12. "It's been an epic experience for me. It's been so fantastic."

The 28-year-old explained that he initially felt proud of himself after quitting drugs, but soon realized sobriety alone hadn't erased the mental health struggles he'd been battling since he was a teenager.

"A little bit earlier on in my sobriety, I was having this feeling where I'm really proud of myself, and I do feel the difference of being off of drugs," he shared. "But I started to really think back on my life and the decisions that I had made, and I was like, 'Okay, well, the reason why I got on drugs in the first place was because when I was a teenager, I was experiencing tons of anxiety and depression.'"

Sprayberry admitted he eventually began "self-medicating," a decision that led to years of substance abuse.

According to Sprayberry, his addiction lasted roughly a decade before he got sober in his early 20s.

"Once I made that decision, I was a chronic drug user for about 10 years," he explained. "Around 23 is when I first got sober."

While becoming sober was a major milestone, he said he quickly realized the underlying issues hadn't disappeared.

"About two years in [to being sober], I was trying to handle that anxiety and that depression with these drugs. Now that I was sober, I could tell that it's still there. It's just suppressed. That was tough, but I had to confront it."

It was during that period that he said he met members of the Church of Scientology, who introduced him to the religion.

Sprayberry recalled beginning Scientology with what members call the "purification rundown," which he described as a detox program.

"I was lucky enough to meet some amazing Scientologists and the first thing that you do as a Scientologist — when you start doing your services — is something called the purification rundown," he said. "The purification rundown is what it sounds like. It's basically a detox program that gets drugs and toxins out of your body for good."

The actor said he enjoyed the process because it fit his active lifestyle.

"I did that, and it was awesome. It was so much fun, because I'm a very active person, so doing the detox program with the running and the sauna sweat felt so good."

Sprayberry also discussed reading Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard's book The Way to Happiness, saying it transformed the way he viewed his emotional well-being.

"I had a huge realization — which sounds so silly to say now — but it was that happiness is not something that I have to get. It's something that I create within myself," he explained. "I've been creating my state of being all this time. The whole reason I was depressed and anxious and all that stuff was because I was not being that person who creates happiness for myself."

He continued, "I was creating depression and anxiety by my behavior, my actions, my point of view on the world. So when I read that book, it really helped open my eyes to the power of that. It's not only something that you do in your mind, but it's something that I do with my actions in telling the truth, taking care of your body and not doing drugs, and helping your parents and not judging other people's religions."

Sprayberry concluded by explaining why he decided to speak publicly about his experience.

"I just wanted to share that with you guys, because it's been such a special experience for me," he said. "I've gotten to get myself in such a good place in life, and I'm doing genuinely fantastic."