Jordan Peterson's family reveals he 'nearly died' in the ICU following monthslong health scare, physical dependence on benzodiazepines

Jordan Peterson, Canadian best-selling author, clinical psychologist, and quasi-cultural messiah, is recovering at a health facility in Russia after falling victim to a physical addiction to tranquilizers.

His daughter, Mikhaila Peterson, made the announcement on social media this week.

What are the details?

According to Mikhaila, her 57-year-old father spent several weeks in the intensive care unit in a Russian hospital following a dependence on benzodiazepines.

The family opted to travel to Russia after detox facilities in North America reportedly misdiagnosed Jordan on several occasions. When he arrived in Russia, he was hospitalized following a pneumonia diagnosis and was placed in an induced coma for eight days. He remained in the ICU for four weeks.

According to his daughter, Jordan began taking the anti-anxiety medication following a severe autoimmune reaction to food. His physicians reportedly increased the dosage last year in order to help him cope with his wife Tammy's terminal cancer diagnosis.

“He nearly died several times," Mikhaila said in the widely watched video.

His daughter said that his withdrawal symptoms were "horrific," but lauded Russian doctors for not relying on pharmaceutical companies to treat withdrawal symptoms with more drugs.

"He almost died from what the medical system did to him in the West," she added. "The doctors here aren't influenced by the pharmaceutical companies, don't believe in treating symptoms caused by medications, by adding in more medications and have the guts to medically detox someone from benzodiazepines.

Jordan has "neurological damage," according to Mikhaila, but is on the mend. He is reportedly taking anti-seizure medication and cannot walk without help.

"He's smiling again for the first time in months," she said.

What else?

Mikhaila and her family credit Jordan's recovery to a variety of important factors.

"He's alive because I know how to research, because my husband negotiates extremely well and speaks Russian, because my family was willing to trust us and take a huge and terrifying risk, because we've had extensive help from family, friends and supporters from all over the world who helped get him here, because we have access to money, and because we found a number of extremely gutsy and competent Russian nurses and doctors that were willing to take a risk," she said.

At the time of this writing, the video featuring Jordan's daughter has been viewed more than 2 million times.

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