Psychologist-turned-self-help guru Jordan Peterson has made a career out of advising men on how to overcome setbacks.
And now, the famed media figure is grappling with some major difficulties of his own.
Back in 2019, Peterson’s wife was diagnosed with kidney cancer. He was so distraught by the news that he developed an addiction to Klonopin, a benzodiazepine drug.
Years after being hospitalized for withdrawal, Peterson has once again stepped away from the spotlight due to health issues related to his addiction.
And Tammy says it’s unclear if or when he will return to public life.
“Dr. Peterson is at home with family and helpful companions… he is not talking about going back to work yet,” Tammy Peterson told the New York Post this week, adding that he “feels as if he’s in another realm of pain.”
“His mornings are brutally painful and discouraging for him. Later, much later in the day, he sometimes feels some relief,” she continued, adding:
“The damage done from psych medications from over six years ago takes patience, time, and loving attention.”
In the years since Peterson began struggling with addiction and withdrawal, Tammy has become an outspoken critic of benzo medications, warning that they “should only be used in lifesaving cases.”
“There are many testimonials written by people who have suffered from psych medication damage… The medical industry will have to face this evidence and take steps to protect the public from harm,” she recently told the Post.
“I was in excruciating pain for two years, like pain on levels that I didn’t know was possible,” he said.
The Daily Mail reported that family friend Jonathan Pageau described Peterson as “overwhelmed with pain and discomfort” after only brief periods of conversation.
Peterson has dealt with a wide array of health issues in recent years, and many have suggested that he would do well to stop counseling young men (and suggesting bizarre diets), when he appears to have so many difficulties in his own life.
“I think what’s happened to Peterson is awful and I wish him the best, but it really does show that maybe he should have been a little less judgmental of people who are dealt a bad hand in life and not hectored them quite so aggressively about personal responsibility,” journalist Nathan Robinson wrote on X (formerly Twitter) this week.
That’s certainly valid criticism, and the harsh tone of Peterson’s “advice” was a topic of frequent criticism even before he became ill.
But like so many others who might take issue with some of his views, we wish Dr. Peterson and his family well as they face these new challenges together.
Jordan Peterson Steps Away From Spotlight Amid Severe Drug Withdrawal was originally published on The Hollywood Gossip.