Xanax Dependence - Jordan Peterson Interview

The comment about Time was something I understood completely...
During w/d, or even mild w/d ,, 15 minutes Felt like an Hour... Not because of pain or suffering,, but it was a separate side effect on how the duration of time was now a new feeling or experience for me.

First time prescribed, I took clonazepam for a month. (4 weeks)
When I stopped after just 4 weeks,, 2 mils a day,, I did Not Sleep at all for 5 nights in a row.... I remember thinking did I ruin my brain and will never sleep again??
And that was just taking them for 4 weeks...

I was on Xanax for 3 years. Never once abused it. All Dr. RX. Now, 4-5 years later. I suffer constant memory issues, difficulty learning new things, nothing is important to me. My entire career has been working in IT. Xanax really destroyed my ability to manage my thoughts.
I am now unable to work, due to the damage that Xanax caused my brain. I feel like I am permanently on Xanax. Nothing excites me anymore. Sucks, but in today’s world, with wars & stupid grandpa political shit happening…. Permo-Xanax… not bad.

I so wish father and daughter would use their leverage to expose pharma corruption
They’ve known this for 60 odd years and too many people are losing their lives and/or livelihoods ect because of them

Correction...I tapered down to one quarter milligram...to be exact.

I was forced to quit cold turkey by my medical team. A year and a half ago. Survived but i am still not 'right' ever since.

i use to really respect you!

because we live in a toxic world! you lost soul

you have money and factoid that most don't how dare you! i always liked you until you said that u have love support and money! you selfish thought less man

Was addicted to Opioids, Benzos and Alcohol at once it was a shit 10 years I don’t remember much still puzzles me how I’m still alive let alone clean although I am still on Methadone. Opioids were the hardest for me to stop

I'm 42 months out from cold turkey benzo withdrawal (6 years xanax, then klonopin 1-2 mg, always as directed, for a total of almost 29 years). I nearly died.
Am still left with akathesia, anhedonia, severe anxiety, migraines, electrical zaps/burning, trembling, inability to be social since people makes me very anxious and anxiety makes me deeply hurt, extreme hypersensitivities to smells, sounds, light, clothing textures, temperature regulation, inability to focus and retain information.
I am 70 and live alone. This was/is hell.
I live with the hope of healing more, as i am improved from first 6 months to year. 🙏

I was on benzos for 40 years. When i wanted otf of rhem, i was on 3 of them. .
I had no idea what a benzo was.
Im not an adduct.
Literally - no dr knew how to get me off these drugs alive. Nobody knew how to help me. I was in absolute medical crisis weaning off of these.
Indeed. Drs created this epidemic and tried to blame us.

I started taking them after my girlfriend passed away. We had just had our second baby, he was 3 months old and my older son was a year and a half. I couldnt seem to function, constant panic attacks and the thought of doing this alone was, and is terrifying.
To this day i take them, and i hate it. I want to be a better dad for these two, but missing a dose at this point feels like literal torture. Amd it seems like i only take them to not feel like shit. Going on about 4 years now... I miss the old me...i miss her. I dont know the proper way to come off this. I work full time in a high volume people environment and cant imagine dealing with them feeling like that. Ive considered not working for a while to try to taper. But then how do i pay the bills? What a mess we can get ourselves into

Anyone who has gone thru any type of withdrawals knows that hell does exist, and it’s here on earth

This med changed my personality for some time

Thanks for this

I overdosed 2w wound up icu for a week both times the 2nd time was a wake up call been sober 3 months it's one ruff drug to get over

I did them for 22 years I starting to feel better I still having withdrawal but I guess it will pass praying every night to easy this feeling good luck for everyone who's getting over this amen❤

refusing patients xanax who need it is infinitely worse for patients than becoming dependent on them. why is it no one ever has this perspective?

21years prescription of up to 60mg my life is not great after 4years off being clean ...heroin was a doddle to come off in comparison.
I have never experienced pain or pacing like this or rage like it ...I have started my book on.

I was never hooked on Xanax, but took a whole lot of it, and I thank God I never was addicted to it, because I was addicted to oxytocin for many years and I know what kind of hell I went through getting off of it.

I agree with Jordan P.
I was prescribed .50mg Xanax as needed for 25+ years for anxiety & nausea. My last 10 years I took more than usual. I rapid tapered 6 months. Last pill was 3/2020. Today I'm still dealing with protracted withdrawals symptoms. Its totally hell & suffering, I'm never ever going to be getting back to my old self ever.

Mr Richy Rich doesn't know what suffering is. Buy my book now!

He was on SSRI's for a long time then took Benzo's.

Its rough. I recently got hooked again for other medical reasons as I broke the addiction to xanax initially by switching to valium and tapering off but suddenly these xanax withdrawls if I didnt take enough in the day are extremely brutal

i've been on them. being autistic, it was easier to get off them knowing that i shouldn't take them anymore so i had a rule that i couldn't take them which i made. it's rough tho when you go through things and you know they would make it better and you have the argument with yourself that they will make things worse in the long run. I believe wholeheartedly in things you can safely take for a long time like tetracyclics for example and of course in psychoanalysing what's eating your brain and trying to adapt life to make it challenging but not panic inducing

I cried watching this. I've been on Alprazolam for over 8 years or more. His words are exactly what I live and struggle with everyday. The ER will only give me meds for epilepsy if I can't get my withdraws of anxiety under control, then just send me back home. If I knew my brain and life would be destroyed, I'd never taken it years ago. I took the meds from my doc as if my doctor was prescribing me any other thing like antibiotics or something. I've been doing carnivore 3 months and I feel like I miss the benefits of healing because of the Alprazolam. The Alprazolam is SNAKE POISON... I've tried so many times to get off and can't.

I've done opioid withdrawal.....and then benzo.....and the benzo nearly killed me or i wished it did at the time....if you take benzodiazepine you should know that the time will come that you are gonna have to take it on....i don't wish it on anyone !!

i was on methadone and benzos, i tapered off methadone first then after 5 months off the methadone i tapered off the benzos. the benzo withdrawal was simply worse, i actually got back on methadone because it got rid of most the Benzo PAWS then stayed on methadone far too long but in the end got off methadone again. benzo withdrawals are more debilitating id much rather go through opiate withdrawals which are still hell on earth but i was at least able to function more after the acute withdrawal stage

I suffered from severe anxiety for 3 years. Benzodiazepines which I've been on for 3 months have really helped. I don't care if I'm on them permanently. I think they're great.

Hows dr peterson doing today?

The thing is there good at first with me I could go out the house be in crowds and feel normal and they feel good I was taking 30 a day 10 mill diazipam for 3 months obviously I didn't start of taking that much but there so easy to build a tolerance to when I come of them I didn't no what was happening I thought I was dying went to hospital twice told them what was going on they said your over the worst we think your coming here to get more when I could just buy them I thought I was dying and the days drag one day is like two cuz you can't sleep it's horrible they should ban them. Because even if you give them short term your exposing people to the drug and there just buy it because at first they feel good and help the devil in disguise

Getting of benzodiazepines is bloody hard work. Ive just finished an 8 week program. Was prescribed diazepam for anxiety two years ago. I said to my doctor “if i had known getting off diazepam was so hard, I never would’ve accepted the prescription” his response was “yeah, taking benzodiazepines for anxiety is like pissing your pants when it’s cold. You’ll feel warm for a while but things quickly get cold!” I’m glad I’m off them and I’m thankful DR Peterson has been so open about it.

I am in tears at the end when he tears up and says thank you to his daughter. THANK YOU, Dr. Peterson, for enlightening us with your own painful experience so we can learn and avoid the same pitfall. Agh, what a gem of a human being.

I am doing a 90 day taper off of 1mg per day of lorazepam. I know it’s a low dose but I’m taking no chances.

I have quit meth, opiates, alcohol, nicotine, and caffeine, and none of them scared me like benzos did.

It just isn’t something you can willpower your way out of and that scares me. I want to just stop taking the damn pill and be done with it but you can’t do that. Curse this drug.

I want to be free of all addictions. I can’t wait.

57 more days to go. Then I will finally be 100% addiction free.

I was on 12 mg of Valium and I've been tapered down to 4mg. My life is so much better but I can not wait to be off. I have cold turkied before I knew anything about the drug and had seizures. I developed akathesia because of this at one point I was at my weakest. I couldn't tell if I was alive or a walking corpse looking in the mirror! 😢 II am such an intelligent woman in medical school, but boy if I had never taken it. The amount of achievements I could make! Jordan Peterson is such a strong man for speaking of his situation and being so detailed and raw. Kudos to any of you who don't give up. Seek a doctor to taper you!

I am Korean.
I took benzo for about 12 years.
I ate it because of fibromyalgia
My back and back hurt so much.
But after eating, I started not to feel sick, but for no reason, I was always sick, weak, always sick, and suffered from a small illness.
After taking it, my memory was very poor in my 7-8th year.
The hospital judged mild cognitive impairment.
Since then, I've been tapering slowly, and it's hell out of hell.
My memory has gotten a lot worse, and my head always hurts. I'm dazed.
And it's so hard because I have muscle pain again.
However, due to memory problems, it must be shortened.
Benzo is being misused too much in the United States and Korea.
If you go to the hospital and talk about side effects, you never listen.
Unconditionally, if you only talk about strengths and side effects, your body is always like that.
My child is 3 years old and I can't remember how he started to walk.
It's so sad.

It's been 12 years and I used to be able to taper down.. came off for small periods of time twice.. it was such hell I couldn't do it. No matter what I do in my life the smallest possible taper it's so extreme I can't do it. I wish I knew an option. I want to turn 40 without benzos. I don't want this to be a life sentence

Thank you for sharing this podcast. Benzo is hell..

I am FLABERGASTED that a psychologist and one who even teaches at university, could be so ignorant and oblivious to the well-known risks of Benzos. We have known about these drugs since the 1960s. Therefore, what he says is correct, that can patients even trust this guy to know what he should know, in order to provide care to others. What he is now saying is completely correct that benzo dependence is much worse than opioids.

valium ruined my life, thank you for exposing this

Thank you for being so honest. This will help people with similar problems. ❤

Xanax saved my life, and continues to benefit me grearly.
Good way to tell the difference between mental obsession and physical dependence.
They are not the same.

I love their authentic and loving relationship ❤ God bless u both for sharing your lives with us. We love u both. ❤

She tried to relate to him too much instead of letting him talk. The thing is, when someone says they were going through something that feels worse than death that you haven't ever experienced before, like coming off of benzos, don't fucking interject. It's why he had to end the video earlier. She was trying to feel more like "top dog" with Jordan by trying to say "Yeah I went through that before". Nob you haven't.

I am a disabled quadriplegic dude, I have been on Xanax going on three years now, I can't function properly if I don't take it, I wish there was something naturally instead, don't know what to do take.

Benzo withdrawal feels like you are slowly crawling out of hell

I'm taking xanax right now, 1 mg, was 3 times a day, slowly being tapered off, my next prescription is 2 mg, it's extremely difficult...

I was an off and on Heroin user and took Benzos daily for about a year at a point in my life.
Valium, Clonazepam and Xanax. All three of them in different quantities everyday.
When I had taperd down/lowered the dose down to 0mg and started withdrawal,
I said to my self many times
“I wish this was just dope sickness instead”.
Can’t even describe it, and it lasted a month.
The physical withdrawal symptoms from heroin only last 5 days - a week.