Controversial psychologist Jordan Peterson is \u201ctaking some time off of everything\u201d due to a debilitating illness caused by mold exposure, his daughter has announced.<\/p>\n
Mikhaila Peterson, who co-hosts Peterson\u2019s YouTube call-in show\u00a0\u201cAnswer the Call\u201d\u00a0for conservative media outlet\u00a0The Daily Wire, revealed in a post on X on Thursday that her father was suffering from chronic inflammatory response syndrome (CIRS), an acquired medical condition not generally recognised by mainstream medicine.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the latest health shock for the Canadian author and commentator, 62, who was checked into rehab for\u00a0benzodiazepine addiction\u00a0in 2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cHey guys,\u00a0@jordanbpeterson is taking some time off of everything,\u201d Mikhaila said.<\/p>\n
Mikhaila Peterson announced her father was suffering from CIRS. YouTube<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was diagnosed with CIRS (chronic inflammatory response syndrome) due to a genetic predisposition that causes the immune system to have an inability to identify and detoxify mold\/bacteria in indoor air (the genetic predisposition is not that rare, it\u2019s in about 25 percent of people but he has a severe version).\u201d<\/p>\n
Mikhaila said \u201cover the last year or so\u201d her father had been \u201cfeeling the impact of CIRS more and more\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cRecently he was exposed to a particularly moldy environment while helping clean out my grandfather\u2019s house after he passed away which severely flared symptoms,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo be crystal clear \u2014 this isn\u2019t about akathisia or medication. He\u2019s not on any medication. It\u2019s an immune system dysfunction.\u201d<\/p>\n
Following the revelation of Peterson\u2019s drug addiction struggles, which caused shock among fans, he revealed he had developed akathisia \u2014 condition which can cause restlessness, mental distress and an inability to sit still \u2014 describing the symptoms as \u201clike being jabbed with something like a cattle prod, something electric, sharp, non-stop.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jordan Peterson addresses students at The Cambridge Union on Nov. 2, 2018, in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire. Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cCIRS is what has been behind his multiple health issues and random severe allergies and severe food sensitivities over the years,\u201d Mikhaila wrote.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s really been suffering from this badly since 2017 we just didn\u2019t know what it was called. Only eating meat helped keep the symptoms under control but it hasn\u2019t been enough recently.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said the condition was \u201calso the explanation behind recent cancelled shows, cancelled events, sporadic appearance of being rundown and general weepiness (caused by pain).\u201d<\/p>\n
Peterson, who joined\u00a0The Daily Wire\u00a0in 2022 after returning to public life, has been\u00a0noticeably diminished\u00a0and agitated in recent appearances \u2014 including a debate in May against 20 atheists for YouTube channel Jubilee.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the latest health shock for the Canadian author and commentator, 62, who was checked into rehab for\u00a0benzodiazepine addiction\u00a0in 2019. Jordan B Peterson \/ YouTube<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s pausing the podcast at the moment, but we\u2019re hopeful for a somewhat speedy recovery, given we at least know what\u2019s going on, and there is treatment, and he\u2019s responding well, although it\u2019s pretty rough,\u201d Mikhaila said.<\/p>\n
\u201cPraise GOD that we finally know what\u2019s been going on.\u00a0The fact that doctors don\u2019t generally recognise that mould exposure in indoor air is causing chronic health issues is insane. The fact that this is the cause behind our food sensitivities and inability to tolerate anything other than meat (for eight years now), multiple disorders and diseases in my family, and is virtually unrecognised by the medical community, is absurd.\u201d<\/p>\n
Peterson and his daughter have previously raised eyebrows for their promotion of the\u00a0carnivore diet, dining exclusively on beef with salt and soda water.<\/p>\n
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\u201cJust like the medical system didn\u2019t recognize ketogenic diets as a treatment for mental disorders 10 years ago (and still most doctors don\u2019t),\u201d Mikhaila said.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust like psych med withdrawal wasn\u2019t recognized five years ago (and still more doctors don\u2019t recognize it).\u00a0This indoor air quality problem that causes Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome will be commonly diagnosed in the next five to 10 years. I am positive about that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Peterson and Mikhaila\u2019s family-run online education venture, Peterson Academy, is facing criticism from\u00a0former students\u00a0who claim they were expelled from the \u201cfree speech\u201d university for speaking out.<\/p>\n
Peterson Academy, which launched last year with 16 courses divided into eight-hour lectures, initially charged students $499 a year.<\/p>\n
Jordan Peterson (right) with his daughter, Mikhaila Peterson (2nd left), Tammy Peterson (2nd right), and Jordan Fuller (left). @MikhailaFuller\/X<\/p>\n
Former student Frankie Joy Bailer claimed she was expelled for sharing a meme about price increases on the internal message board, drawing the ire of Mikhaila.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing expelled from Peterson Academy for making memes was definitely not on my 2025 bingo card,\u201d she said in a\u00a0January interview\u00a0on YouTube.<\/p>\n
Dusty May Taylor, another expelled student, shared a lengthy\u00a0blog post\u00a0about her experience, revealing Peterson was \u201cnot active on the platform\u201d that was largely run by Mikhaila as the chief executive.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is very ironic that Jordan Peterson is the man who consistently warns Canadians against vague laws being passed, which can be interpreted any which way and result in punitive action being taken against troublesome citizens,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n
Peterson Academy is headquartered in Arizona\u2019s Paradise Valley, a mountain town east of the capital Phoenix.<\/p>\n
Peterson, who joined\u00a0The Daily Wire\u00a0in 2022 after returning to public life, has been\u00a0noticeably diminished\u00a0and agitated in recent appearances \u2014 including a debate in May against 20 atheists for YouTube channel Jubilee. Jordan B Peterson \/ YouTube<\/p>\n
Peterson and his family have reportedly purchased more than $50 million worth of Paradise Valley real estate in the past few years, including a $30 million estate previously owned by billionaire Alex Meruelo, the former owner of the Arizona Coyotes National Hockey League (NHL) team, according to local news outlet KTAR.<\/p>\n
Peterson started his career at Harvard University before returning to his native Canada to take up a position as a professor at the University of Toronto in 1998.<\/p>\n
He shot to global fame in late 2016 after posting a series of videos criticising a proposed Canadian law, Bill C-16 \u2014 which made it illegal to refuse to refer to a transgender person by their preferred \u201cgender pronoun\u201d.<\/p>\n
His videos quickly went viral, coming just months before the 2016 US election of Donald Trump at a time when the global culture wars were going into overdrive.<\/p>\n
Peterson in Amsterdam, on Oct. 31, 2018. NurPhoto via Getty Images<\/p>\n
Peterson\u2019s YouTube lectures and appearances on popular podcasts like\u00a0\u201cThe Joe Rogan Experience\u201d\u00a0drew huge audiences. He released his global best-selling self-help book,\u00a0\u201c12 Rules for Life,\u201d in 2018 and embarked on a global tour, including Australia.<\/p>\n
But the rock star psychologist\u2019s life spectacularly fell apart shortly after his Australia tour in February 2019.<\/p>\n
He all but disappeared from public life, with his lengthy absence sparking a flurry of speculation.<\/p>\n
In September 2019, Mikhaila posted a confronting YouTube update revealing her father had been checked into rehab in New York seeking to get off the anti-anxiety drug clonazepam, saying he had begun taking the addictive medication to deal with stress from his wife\u2019s battle with cancer.<\/p>\n
Peterson on his Daily Wire show \u201cAnswer the Call.\u201d Jordan B Peterson \/ YouTube<\/p>\n
Things took an even darker turn in early 2020, when Peterson sought alternative treatment for benzodiazepine dependence in a Russian hospital after what Mikhaila claimed was repeated misdiagnosis in North American hospitals.<\/p>\n
While in Moscow, Peterson came down with pneumonia and was put into an induced coma for eight days.<\/p>\n
He returned to Canada in October 2020, telling YouTube viewers he hoped to \u201creturn to something resembling a normal life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Late last year, he announced that he had fled Canada for the US, claiming that impending hate speech legislation, bill C-63, threatened to turn the country into a \u201ctotalitarian hellhole.\u201d<\/p>\n
Speaking on his daughter\u2019s podcast, Peterson said an ongoing feud with the College of Psychologists of Ontario had also prompted the move.<\/p>\n
The professional body had threatened to pull his practising license if he did not complete a social media re-education training course.<\/p>\n
Peterson had challenged the order, but Canada\u2019s Supreme Court dismissed his appeal against the college\u2019s decision last August.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Controversial psychologist Jordan Peterson is \u201ctaking some time off of everything\u201d due to a debilitating illness caused by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":68705,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[15665,33454,35854,102,3714,1906,6623,4689,224,56,54,55,132],"class_list":{"0":"post-68704","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-celebrity-illnesses","9":"tag-chronic-illness","10":"tag-conservatives","11":"tag-health","12":"tag-media","13":"tag-mental-health","14":"tag-mentalhealth","15":"tag-podcasts","16":"tag-social-media","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom","19":"tag-unitedkingdom","20":"tag-youtube"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68704","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68704"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68704\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}