By David Futrelle
If you’ve been wondering where Jordan Peterson has been for the past several months, we now have an answer, courtesy of his daughter Mikhaila in a YouTube video yesterday: he’s been in “absolute hell” trying to get himself off of the effective but highly addictive anti-anxiety drug Klonopin, a quest that ultimately took him to Russia, where he ended up in a medically induced coma to cure a case of pneumonia she says he picked up in a North American hospital.
Rehab is punishingly rough for most people, but Peterson’s path in the direction of recovery took more than a few strange turns along the way. He first began taking the potent benzodiazepine several years ago, his daughter claims, after having a (self-diagnosed?) autoimmune reaction to food; he became a full-fledged addict last spring after his wife was diagnosed with cancer, ultimately retreating from a busy schedule of public talks and turning to doctors, first in North America, then in Russia, to get off the drug.
According to Mikhaila, as the National Post notes,
the family sought alternative treatment in Russia because they found 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 also reports that her father at one point was contemplating suicide because the side effects of some of the meds he was taking were so severe.
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,” worse than anything she had ever heard about. She said Russian doctors are not influenced by pharmaceutical companies to treat the side-effects of one drug with more drugs, and that they “have the guts to medically detox someone from benzodiazepines.”
It seems a little strange to go from Canada to Russia — a country not exactly known for its fine hospitals — for medical treatment, but hey, this is a guy who thinks the ideal diet consists of nothing but meat and salt.
Jordan Peterson has only just come out of an intensive care unit, Mikhaila said. He has neurological damage, and a long way to go to full recovery. He is taking anti-seizure medication and cannot type or walk unaided, but is “on the mend” and his sense of humour has returned.
Is Peterson a hypocrite? Rule 6 of Peterson’s 12 Rules for Life — as spelled out in his bestselling book of that title — is one of his most demanding pronouncements: “SET YOUR HOUSE IN PERFECT ORDER BEFORE YOU CRITICIZE THE WORLD.”
Peterson is speaking metaphorically, of course; he’s not talking about tidying up one’s room as much as he is talking about tidying up one’s own life. “Don’t reorganize the state until you have ordered your own experience,” he writes.
Have some humility. If you cannot bring peace to your household, how dare you try to rule a city?
This is a rule that Peterson has some considerable difficulty in following himself. Not much given to humility, he has been trying to “reorganize the world” for many years despite his own life being, frankly, something of a mess. And it’s not just the benzos. He’s a follower of a crank diet that he admits causes him considerable internal distress; he has a snappish temper that has led him to fantasize about and sometimes even threaten physical violence against his critics; he’s a stubborn intellectual bully who has aligned himself with some of the world’s worst “intellectuals.” And he’s an anti-trans bigot.
I don’t wish the horrors of addiction and rehab on anyone, not even Jordan Peterson. But I do hope he returns from this ordeal a little chastened, a little less judgmental, and a lot wiser.
Not that his fans would agree. From their comments on the Jordan Peterson subreddit, it’s clear they want the old Peterson back, as soon as possible.
“If Peterson has taught me one thing it’s to look the f*k out when this guy comes back,” writes one fan. “I can not wait to see how he emerges. Buckle up, Bucko.”
Another draws hope from one of the ancient Egyptian myths Peterson likes to talk about:
He is in the metaphorical underworld fighting to get out. like Ra/Amun in the Egyptian religion.
Yes, let’s literally compare Peterson with a supreme deity.
Still another commenter spins a conspiracy theory to explain Peterson’s troubles:
I consider it disturbingly coincidental, that someone who has devoted themselves to combatting the hard Left, would suddenly develop such chronic health problems over the last 12-24 months.
The main reason why I say that, is because the one message which I have most consistently received from the Millennial/Z Left on this site over the last ten years, has been that there is literally no room on this planet, or within reality itself, for anyone who disagrees with them or with their message. …
I sincerely hope that Doctor Peterson makes as close to a full, permanent recovery as is possible from such a condition, as his ongoing presence is urgently needed. If for no other reason, this is so that individuals like myself, for whom it is all too easy to assume that the Left reign supreme in society, can be reminded that we are in fact not alone, and that battle has been joined.
One of Peterson’s fan boys even ventured into an anti-Jordan Peterson subreddit to tell critics that
He’s going to recover fully and will have more support than ever and will continue speaking the truth and all of you whiny little fucking pathetic cunts will have to deal with it. Can’t wait 🙂
I’m not seeing a lot of humility here. But if Peterson can’t live up to his own pronouncements, it’s perhaps a bit much to expect that his fans will either. But I suspect that they’re right about one thing: Peterson will come back from this ordeal having learned nothing from it — the same flawed, judgmental jerk we’ve gotten to know over the past several years.
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What a damn fool and so is his daughter.
Do we think this could be because in Russia he can be more openly hateful than in Canada?
I take that to mean that he tells the same helicopter joke over and over again, as that seems to be the extent of conservative humor these days.
YES YES YES YES. It’s not even necessary to explain, it goes without saying that any alt right grifter is a hypocrite.
Projection much? It’s not the left that has shooters going around to kill anyone who doesn’t agree with them.
Curses! Ninjaed by David.!
Am I the only one who thinks that Jordan Peterson’s health issue could be linked to his radical changes in lifestyle? He lives a highly stressful career as a pundit and public speaker after basically losing the respect of his peers and his position in university following his obstinate and wrongheaded attacks on transpeople rights. He turned to a woo diet to solve minor health problems and suffered more personnal setback following his wife’s sickness. High stess jobs + lots of traveling around + poor diet + important dose of medication is pretty much the perfect recepe for his health to crumble at some point especially given his age. I’m pretty sure that his conspiracy views on medecine and life in general aren’t helpingh him to seek proper treatment and the result of his rehab for his drug dependecy seems to illustrate this. There seems to be a lot of bad decision making in his life as of late.
Perhaps the problem was more that in Canada, as part of a return to health, they suggested he eat a vegetable once in a while? Honestly, it’s like every medical professional you meet is getting kickbacks from Big Broccoli!
My partner reckons he’ll have gone to Russia because they’ll use drugs like Phenibut in Benzo withdrawal. An experience which is meant to be unbelievably horrible.
He seems to have a weird relationship with Russia anyway. The bit about filling his house with socialist realist paintings so he never forgets how awful communism is…that’s fucking weird. And a Canadian going to Russia to seek treatment for a pretty straightforward drug addiction is nonsense.
Assuming he’s not directly in Russian government pay, I assume he did this because for some godforsaken reason he’s decided he can trust medical professionals in a struggling, financially unstable oligarchy over medical professionals who get pitches from pharmaceutical companies.
I suspect a big part of the problem is that he thinks he’s special. Other people get hooked on benzos because they’re weak willed, or misguided by feminism or something, he gets hooked because Big Reasons. When the doc in Canada says “you need to eat vegetables, get physical therapy, and I suggest seeing a psychologist”, this just shows how they’re trying to cut his balls off because he’s a fully actualized Western man.
Russian medical people will probably indulge that, if for no other reason than that he can pay well.
Yeah, Peterson probably went to Russia because Canadian doctors didn’t tell him what he wanted to hear about his problems.
As for the idea that someone is trying to do Peterson in, that’s wishful thinking. Peterson is not important enough, despite what he or his followers think. If an evil leftist conspiracy existed they’d be far more interested in someone like Sean Hannity or Tucker Carlson. After all they have obvious influential on bigwigs on the US right, including Trump himself. I doubt Trump and his cronies know Peterson exists.
Publishers Weekly says editor and Navy Seal fluffer Marc Resnick of Macmillian actually signed an author, Jim Prosser—a sociopathic right-wing Jesus loon—who just published a book comparing this Canadian fart to Christ.
The whole fascist world is full of grifters.
From what I understand about Russian culture, there’s a lot of stigma about treating mental health issues with medication, so it seems weird to go to Russia for addiction treatment, but might fit with an extreme libertarian mindset?
CW: Discussion of suicide
From what I understand means to me, what I gather from following gymnastics and figure skating. For example, Svetlana Khorkina was talking shit about Simone Biles and accusing her of doping because she takes medication for ADHD. And more recently, that is very recently, a rhythmic gymnast from Russia, Alexandra Soldatova was reported to have been recently admitted as an inpatient to a psychiatric hospital for a suicide attempt and diagnosed with bulimia. Then her coach claimed this was not the case and Sasha merely cut herself making breakfast. Which is weird, because why would you be committed to a pysch ward for an accident, and how on earth does one get cuts on the wrists and arms that resemble a suicide attempt from an accident cutting food? So, there definitely seems to me to be an even bigger stigma regarding mental health issues in Russia than there is in North America and it’s bizarre that a Canadian would seek treatment there, but right-libertarians are damn bizarre, so idk. Someone with more knowledge about Russian culture than me can correct me if I’m wrong about this, it’s just the impression I’ve gotten from the information I have surrounding sports culture there. So I could be totally wrong!
Speaking as a young stroke survivor and the daughter of a man who suffered a traumatic brain injury … he ain’t coming back from this very easily. Especially if he doesn’t make the lifestyle changes usually recommended after recovering from neurological damage. It doesn’t matter how awesome you are.
Any takers on how quickly his fanbase will assert that he’s better than ever, even if JP needs a wheelchair or a cane or even just has serious fatigue?
Being “martyred” because other people think you’re full of BS is easy. Struggling with your own body’s new limitations, every hour of every day, is hard.
Talking about Soldatova kind of makes me want to share her work with you all. The Averina twins are more decorated than her, I think, but they are technically impressive, but a bit robotic for me. Sasha is truly an artist in my opinion.
Enjoy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtn6tEN5ybo
Ribbon is the most famous rhythmic event, but ball is my personal favorite because to me, it looks most like an extension of the gymnast’s body, and Sasha’s ball routine here is so fluid and lovely.
While the information about her situation is sketchy, she’s clearly going through something, and whatever it is, I wish her the best.
I have no idea how welcome my occasional random gymnastics and figure skating posts are here, but whatever.
@Victorious Parasol
I doubt he will make any lifestyle changes. That would be contrary to anything he’s asserted before as a reactionary. Maybe that’s why he went to Russia, so they wouldn’t force him to make changes to his diet or lifestyle.
I’m actually a bit curious to see how they would spin that. I also wonder, would it prompt them to be less ableist? Or maybe seeing their hero like this will cause them to see that he’s not an immortal deity and they’ll reconsider their views? I know it’s unlikely, but I can dream.
@Weirwood, I’ve actually never seen a ball routine – it’s incredible! As for your gymnastic/skating posts generally, I always enjoy them because it’s a sphere I know almost nothing about. ?♀️
Re the post overall: it’s sad to see the misconceptions and hasty judgements about drug addiction doing their usual rounds on Twitter. Even many lefty folks tend to lose empathy very fast when it comes to addiction.
As for JP himself, I detest him but I don’t take any joy in his situation. And I’d hate to be at the mercy of his daughter, given her beliefs about medicine and health.
I also doubt he will come back humbled by this experience, somehow. I think @Podkayne Lives nailed it here:
Is she claiming that North American doctors can’t even diagnose pneumonia? Or that his opinion of North American medicine was so low at that point that he didn’t bother seeing a doctor for those symptoms?
As long as his followers can use him as an excuse to feel superior, they’ll do that. Once they can’t, they’ll pretend he never existed and move on to the next guy.
Yep, you put it so well. I’m sure “being an ordinary person who needs ordinary treatments” would have seemed a terrible misdiagnosis to Peterson.
Mind you, while I’ve no doubt something awful happened to Peterson, the family is so kranky around health that you can’t be sure what it actually was. These are people who claim impossible things about their diets, and that they have had delirium brought on by normal foods. Now they are going to Moscow for alternative treatments. It’s hard to know what of their account is more lies and fantasizing, just that some of it undoubtedly is.
Vegan Youtube has been covering all these shenanigans for months. The revelation he has been taking these meds for years makes a liar out of him when he went on The Joe Rogan Experience and said his new carnivore diet had cured his anxiety and depression completely. But him being a liar is pretty par for the course now.
@Naglfar
I’m anticipating a few schisms in the Holy Church of JP. You’ll have the Purists, who insist that there’s nothing wrong with their prophet. Over here will be the Super Purists, who avow that their prophet is BETTER THAN EVER. Then you have the Totes Not Fooled crowd, who will tell you that JP isn’t as strong as he used to be, but he’s still STRONGER AND CORRECTER THAN THE AVERAGE LEFTIST PROFESSOR. In that corner at the back are the Cane Worshipers, who live for the day he will smack them with his ROD OF CORRECTION (now also required for ambulation!) in order to keep them on the path of right-thinking.
@Victorious Parasol
I look forward to seeing all the kinds of idiot Peterson stans fight each other and drag each other down.
Bets on how long until one of them shows up here to ‘splain this all to us? For the first time ever, I’m actually somewhat curious to see what they think. Will we get a purist, a super purist, or a caneist?
@Naglfar
With our luck, it’ll be a representative of a schism I didn’t name. 😛
Why go to Russia for treatment? Cuba is supposed to be the country with the best doctors in the world, right?
I suspect they went to Russia for reasons connected to the general Russia stanning by the alt-right, than because of any legit medical reasons.
I’ve been following this on Reddit. The lobsterkin are being extremely disappointed in how the vicious SJWs are mocking the pain and suffering of so great and good a man as Jeep.
I have to admit, I have less of a problem with he himself than I do with his stand. The idea of living in the society they want is disquieting.
I don’t subscribe to the lobsterite way of thinking, but, as a parkie, I’m with members of the commentariat here who have neuro issues and wouldn’t even wish them on JP, no matter how unwise his healthcare choices may have been.