‘I’m alive’: Jordan Peterson back in Canada after lengthy medical treatment, he says in emotional video

Jordan Peterson, the Canadian psychology professor who skyrocketed to fame before vanishing from the public eye for nearly a year, has posted an emotional new video online, explaining that he’s back home in Toronto after months seeking medical treatment for withdrawal symptoms related to benzodiazepine use.

“Hopefully, much of that is behind me and I can return to something resembling a normal life,” said Peterson.

In the eight-minute video, Peterson explains he had been suffering from “severely impaired health,” after he had begun using benzodiazepines, drugs such as Valium, often used in the treatment of anxiety, in 2016 or 2017 and then stopping their use, which he said led to withdrawal and neurological damage, kicking off the search for specialists who could help him.

“That’s put me in and out of hospitals for much of the past year,” he said.

Peterson said he started using benzodiazepines and “really never gave it a second thought.”

“That was a mistake, to say the least,” he said.

The University of Toronto professor found stardom over his objection to Bill C-16, a piece of legislation that added gender identity to Canada’s human rights and Criminal Codes. He then published the bestselling self-help book 12 Rules for Life, has been a columnist for the National Post and is a widely viewed YouTube speaker.

Peterson said that during his treatment, which he said took him from Connecticut, to Russia, to Serbia and back home to Canada, that what kept him going “during what was certainly the worst period of my life” was family, friends and the ability to keep working and writing.