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Controversial psychologist Jordan Peterson is recovering from an emergency medical antianxiety medication detox, which was complicated by a bout with pneumonia, and some of his critics are celebrating the bleak news.
Peterson, an outspoken opponent of political correctness, is “on the mend” despite “a lot of physiological damage,” his daughter Mikhaila Peterson said in a video she posted to his YouTube page explaining the “The Twelve Rules of Life” author’s struggles.
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Jordan Peterson’s daughter provided an update on his health. (Getty Images)
“The last year has been extremely difficult for our family. Dad was put on a low dose of a benzodiazepine a few years ago for anxiety following an extremely severe autoimmune reaction to food. He took the medication as prescribed,” Mikhaila said in the video posted last week. “Last April when my mom was diagnosed with terminal cancer, the dose of the medication was increased.”
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Mikhaila explained that it “became apparent that he was suffering from both a physical dependency and a paradoxical reaction” to the medication.
“A paradoxical reaction means the drugs do the opposite of what they’re supposed to. These reactions are rare but are not unheard of,” she said. “For the last eight months he’s been in unbearable discomfort from this drug, made worse when trying to remove it, because of the addition of withdrawal symptoms.”
Mikhaila said her father has “experienced terrible akathisia,” which she described as “a condition where the person feels an incredible, endless, irresistible restlessness, bordering on panic, and an inability to sit still,” which has made him suicidal.
“We had to seek an emergency medical benzodiazepine detox, which we were only able to find in Russia. It was incredibly grueling, and was further complicated by severe pneumonia,” she said. “With the help of some extremely competent and courageous doctors, he survived.”
Mikhaila concluded the video by noting that her family is “extremely lucky and grateful” that Peterson is alive.
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News of the polarizing Peterson’s illness came with vitriol from detractors, which National Post columnist Jonathan Kay addressed.
“It was a shockingly ghoulish response. It was also comically hypocritical, given that these are the same people who typically spend much of their waking lives boasting publicly of their commitment to social justice, and who insist on using the language of genocide to describe acts of misgendering or cultural appropriation,” Kay wrote. "All cults dehumanize their critics and perceived enemies. And the self-described social-justice proponents who regard Peterson as a secular demon are no different.”
Peterson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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Several critics took to Twitter to mock the situation:
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