PETERSON’S YEAR OF ‘ABSOLUTE HELL.’
Severe addiction part of year of ‘absolute hell’
Jordan Peterson is recovering from a severe addiction to benzodiazepine tranquillizers and was recently near death in an induced coma, his daughter Mikhaila said.
He is being treated at a clinic in Russia after being misdiagnosed at hospitals in North America, she said.
The University of Toronto psychologist, who became an intellectual hero to a global audience by aligning selfhelp theory with anti-progressive politics, was first prescribed the medication a few years ago to treat anxiety after what Mikhaila described as an autoimmune reaction to food. His physical dependence on it became apparent to his family last April, when his wife Tammy was diagnosed with cancer.
The last year, which saw him retreat from public life after becoming one of the most famous authors in the world, has been an “absolute hell,” said Mikhaila, also a well-known speaker on diet, who advocates eating only beef.
In November, he went to a rehabilitation centre in New York. He has previously discussed his long history of depression.
Peterson writes a column for the National Post, most recently in November.
His conditioned worsened through the winter, Mikhaila said. He was driven to thoughts of suicide by a movement disorder called akathisia, a known side effect of various drugs for mental illnesses. It is a sense of restlessness and an inability to sit still.
“It became apparent that he was experiencing a paradoxical reaction to the medication, meaning the benzos did the opposite of what they’re supposed to do. These reactions are rare but are not unheard of,” Mikhaila said in the script for a video shared with the National Post.
She said the family sought alternative treatment in Russia because they believe North American hospitals had misdiagnosed him, and were prescribing “more medications to cover the response he was experiencing from the benzodiazepines,” Mikhaila said. “He nearly died several times.”
She and her husband took him to Moscow last month, where he was diagnosed with pneumonia and put into an induced coma for eight days. She said his withdrawal was “horrific.”
Peterson has neurological damage, is taking anti-seizure medication and cannot type or walk unaided, but is “on the mend” and his sense of humour has returned.