I also hope he can recover quickly, and hopefully learn something from this.

The man who was going to help all the young mens get their shit together is...checks notes...addicted to benzos.

The fact that he's in Russia is very on brand, though.

Per the article, he's dependent on benzos, not addicted. One can be chemically dependent on a substance but not be addicted to it. Dependence means the body has become so reliant on the chemical that it cannot function normally without it. Addiction is a wide range of behavioral issues, and typically involves abusing a medication in a way contrary to its intended purpose. Dependence and addiction often occur together, but that's not always necessarily the case.

I may not agree with him, but I have sympathy and empathy for him. Benzos are some of the absolute worst drugs a person can become dependent on. I don't envy him the road ahead.

bullying trans students and pushing incel nonsense that has literally gotten people killed.

On top of that, he very openly positioned himself as somebody telling others, especially the "cultural Marxists" on the "left" how they should live their lives.

Fuck him actually sideways. He's a big part of why we are where we are.

Trying to quit is doubly difficult because the act of smoking is associated with comfort, reduced stress, pleasure, etc. Some smokers who try to quit will chew on a pen or a toothpick to simulate the act of smoking, the so-called oral fixation. This is the addiction component, the psychological and behavioral aspect.

The other component is the chemical dependency on nicotine. If you've never smoked, ask any smoker about "nic fits." If you go too long without your fix, you get jumpy, irritable, anxious, etc. In extreme cases, nausea and abdominal cramps are possible, among other things. This is the chemical dependency component.

Certain drugs, if one is dependent on them, have extremely nasty withdrawal effects. This is most certainly the case with benzos.

said nobody ever.

3 x daily for approximately 15 years just to keep working full time. When I retired, I was losing prescription coverage and the cost of those meds is ridiculous so I wanted to change meds. I tapered down over a month to nothing in my system with absolutely no problems except drastically increased pain levels. Now I'm on much smaller doses of much less "controversial" and strong pain meds and I'm doing fine. I was and am physically dependent on pain meds, but not psychologically. I don't miss the Oxy or Fentanyl at all and I'm on what amounts to about 1/10 of what I was on before. But then my body reacts to meds differently. I don't recall ever feeling "high" on any of my meds. My pain seemed to suck up all the meds, allowing me to live a normal life instead of balled up on the couch in a fetal position sobbing in pain. That's why I get so pissed off at anti-pain drug people. I can't be the only person that reacts to pain meds that way.

People who don't live with chronic pain can't understand it. It eats at you every moment of every day, and you reach a point where you just can't stand it anymore and you have to have some relief. I've been there, and I wouldn't wish it on anyone.

It just bugs me to hear people assume that if a person is using a medication like pain meds or benzos, then they're just a junkie addict. In your case, you used your meds responsibly and for the right reasons, and you were still chemically dependent on them, but you were by no means an addict. I really wish people would educate themselves in order to grasp that distinction, doctors included.

making so many people suffer unnecessarily. I'm lucky that I have a very conscientious and competent pain doctor. Not everyone is as fortunate as I am. I've been seeing him since 1994 and he's very diligent about making sure his patients have a legitimate pain syndrome. If they don't they have to go elsewhere. Again, thank you!

I had never heard of this tool before, so did a little reading. Looks like he was the perfect "intellectual" frontman to give a veneer of academic credibility to RW ideals and insinuate them into the public discourse. Unfortunately, as so often happens with these chest beaters, the reality is that he's a massive hypocrite with major issues. Perfect.

A psychologist and self-help author who decided he had discovered a hidden flaw in all of western philosophy since about 1806 that just hadn't been noticed by any of the philosophers after that. In science that person gets called a crank and ignored. In philosophy he gets a radio talk show.

I will, from now on, refer to him not as someone in the throes of chemical dependency, but simply as a pathetic junkie.

So when does he get his pResidential medal of freedumb???

Trump abusez Adderall and possibly other stimulants. Limpballs abused OxyContin and hydrocodone. And now this Right Wing idiot.

Seems these blowhards have some kind of problem they are using drugs to mask. It's hard to live with yourself if you are that nasty.

"The 57-year-old professor has been out of the public eye since September, when it was first disclosed by his daughter that he was seeking treatment for his dependence on clonazepam, a benzodiazepine tranquilizer that is often prescribed to patients with panic issues."

Most doctors Do Not prescribe amounts that make their patients dependent. If they do, they usually don't let it get so out of hand that the patient needs emergency detox. If they do, the patient should be filing a malpractice suit.

"He has sought "emergency" drug detox treatment in Russia, after several failed attempts to overcome his dependence on a potent anti-anxiety medication."

You do not seek emergency drug detox in Russia if you are carefully following your doctors orders. What evidence do you have that he was not abusing his prescription drugs?

If you're on a benzo for any significant length of time, two things will happen: one, you will develop a tolerance to it, and will need a larger dose to get the same effect, and two, you will become chemically dependent on the medication. It's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when. Peterson has, per the article, been taking clonazepam for years. The article also mentions that his dose was increased last spring, which precipitated the problems.

The article also refers to doctors placing him in a medically induced coma. The likely reason for them to do that was for him to be unconscious during the extremely unpleasant withdrawal period as his body acclimated to not having the drug. Essentially, everything in the article speaks to dependence, not addiction. The two are not the same.

You can assert all day long that he's addicted to clonazepam, but contrary to what you believe, the article provides no proof to back up that assertion.

He was not abusing a commonly addictive medication.

You don't seek emergency medical detox in Russia if you are carefully following your doctor's orders. If you do, then you need to file a lawsuit. There is no mention of malpractice in the article. That leads me to believe he was not following his doctors orders or was doctor shopping both if which are indications of abuse.

Yes, many medications can be addictive and are abused. A good doctor monitors it so that it does not become an emergency situation like this did.

Why did he go to Russia? As stated in the article, that Russian hospital has no more expertise in drug withdrawal then many good US hospitals. Why did he leave the country to get medical attention? Because he didn't want authorities or right wing followers to know. Why did he hide it if it was just a matter of chemical addiction? He could have comeback to his followers and used it as a teaching moment. He is in that profession. But when you abuse prescription drugs like Rush Limpball and other right wing blowhards you hide what you are doing.

To assume it was merely a case of chemical addiction does not explain his leaving the country or why it became an emergency detox situation.

I am not 100% convinced that it is abuse, I am open to further evidence. But at this point simple addiction to a commonly addictive substance does not fit the facts. Abuse fits the strange choices made in this case and until additional facts are presented, the preponderance of evidence indicates abuse.

Jeez, his daughter thinks that shows the Russian doctors "have the guts to medically detox someone from benzodiazepines".

I wonder if they also stopped his "beef, salt and water-only" diet, which she had persuaded him to follow (obviously they did during the coma)? I mean, if you're looking for something that damaged him ...

What a stupid idea. How long was he on it? I hope he was taking vitamins.