In a new interview, Jordan Peterson described his spiral in drug addiction and suicidal thoughts before being diagnosed with schizophrenia – and then undergoing a controversial Russian treatment that put him in an induced coma for eight days.
The controversial Canadian psychology professor, who has spent much of his career on political correctness, spoke to the Sunday Times along with his podcast host daughter, Mikhaila Peterson, about his downward spiral.
“I do not remember anything. From 16 December 2019 to 5 February 2020, ”the self-help writer said he was sent to Russia for treatment. “I do not remember anything at all,” Peterson told the British newspaper.
Peterson gained international notoriety for the explosion of academic “safe spaces” and feminism, as well as his refusal to use transgender pronouns.
He wrote the international bestseller, “12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos”, in 2018, but struggles with an addiction to benzodiazepines prescribed to him after a severe reaction to a strict diet for meat and vegetables.
Mikhaila, 28, her Russian husband and Peterson started the diet in 2016, but all three have a violent ‘sodium metabisulfite reaction’, she said. “It was really awful – but it hit him the hardest,” Mikhaila told the Times. “He could not get up without turning black. He had this impending sense of doom. He did not sleep. ”
Peterson had earlier claimed that he had not slept for 25 days during this time, but the longest period of human sleep deprivation ever recorded was only 11 days, the newspaper said.
He prescribed a low dose of antidepressants, which helped him recover, but the dose was increased after Peterson sank into depression after his wife, Tammy, was diagnosed with cancer.
‘And things just fell apart insanely with Tammy. “Every day was life and death and crisis for five months,” Peterson told the newspaper. “The doctors said, ‘Well, she’s got this cancer, which’s so rare that there’s virtually no literature left, and the one-year mortality rate is 100 percent. ‘So endless nights on forced on the floor, and constant surgical complications … Then I took the benzodiazepines. ‘
Tammy Roberts has recovered from complications with kidney surgery, but Peterson’s drug addiction has worsened.
“Dad started to get really weird. It manifests as extreme anxiety and suicide, ‘Mikhaila, who, according to the Times,’ apparently took full control of his affairs, ‘he said.
The crusader against political correctness went to a clinic in Toronto, where he was allegedly taken from benzodiazepines and prescribed ketamine, before being examined in 2019 in a rehabilitation facility in New York.
Schizophrenia was diagnosed in him around this time.
‘Well, I’m going to the best treatment clinic in North America. And all they did was make it worse. So we had no options, “Peterson told the Times about the decision to undergo controversial treatment in Moscow.
‘I put myself in the hands of the medical profession. And the result was that I would die. So it was not it [the evidence from Moscow] was convincing. That was because we had no other options. ”
In Russia, Peterson was intubated for undiagnosed pneumonia and administered propofol so that he could be induced into a coma for more than a week while medics cleared his system of drugs.
When he came out of treatment, Peterson reportedly lost the ability to walk, as well as large parts of his memory.
“He was catatonic. Really, really bad. And then he was misleading, “his daughter told the newspaper.
After some progress, Peterson was flown to Florida in February, where his pain and suicidal thoughts returned.
Mikhaila then flew her father to a private hospital in Belgrade, Serbia, where he was diagnosed with akathisia – a state of restlessness associated with the withdrawal of bensos.
Peterson, who also contracted the coronavirus abroad at the time, returned to Canada to recover from akathisia. He told the Sunday Times that his mental health was affecting employees as an ‘icon of white supremacy and hate speech’ by employees of his book’s publisher.
‘I was at the center of this incredible controversy, and there were constantly journalists around me, and students showed up. It’s really emotionally difficult to be attacked like that in public. And it happened to me, like three years, constantly, ‘Peterson told the newspaper.
“I was worried about my family. I was concerned about my reputation. I was worried about my profession. And other things happened. The Canadian equivalent of the Inland Revenue service was afterward, which made my life miserable because something they admitted was a mistake three months later, but they just tortured me to death. ”
When the author asked him about the apparent irony of turning to drugs after telling his followers that life is about struggling through pain and suffering,
‘No, I’ve never said that before. Look, if you are a viable clinician, encourage people to take psychiatric medication when appropriate. What I really encourage in people is to understand that it is not helpful to allow your suffering to offend you. And believe me, I had many temptations to get upset about what has happened to me in the last two years, “Peterson told the newspaper.
During the ordeal, Peterson wrote a sequel to his best-selling book called ‘Beyond Order: 12 More Rules for Life’. It is expected to be published in the spring.