Psychologist, author Jordan Peterson suffering from akathisia: Know what it is and why it happens

Mikhaila Peterson, daughter of the well-known Canadian psychologist and author Dr. Jordan Peterson, revealed that her father has been suffering from what she described as a "psych-med-induced neurological injury" and that the specific condition is akathisia, a movement disorder that makes it nearly impossible to sit still and causes relentless inner restlessness. What made this especially striking is the timeline. Peterson has been off psychiatric medications for six years. And yet the symptoms started last summer. "It was complicated by pneumonia and associated sepsis a month later," she told the media.

What akathisia actually feels like

The name comes from a Greek word meaning "inability to sit." People with akathisia have symptoms like: feeling nervous, uneasy, tense, twitchy, restless, unable to relax. There's insomnia, a creeping sense of discomfort, motor restlessness, and in serious cases, marked anxiety and panic.

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It's classified as a neuropsychiatric syndrome and movement disorder.


Back in 2019, Peterson developed a severe dependency on benzodiazepines, medications he'd been prescribed for anxiety. As the dosage increased, so did his problems, eventually resulting in akathisia along with other neurological symptoms. He's spoken about this publicly before. What's new now is that the condition has apparently resurfaced years after he stopped taking those medications entirely.


Akathisia is frequently underdiagnosed because its symptoms closely mimic other conditions like agitated depression, anxiety disorders, mania, ADHD.


Mikhaila said as much in her video — that this condition is misdiagnosed constantly, hidden by the pharmaceutical industry, and "far more common than people know."

What happened to Peterson this time

His health took a sharp turn last summer. Mikhaila explains the sequence: a flare-up, likely triggered by mold exposure, then stress, then pneumonia, then sepsis. He spent nearly a month in the ICU and was separated from his family for weeks during that time.


His family says he's currently being treated by a dedicated team of experts, though they admit they're still uncertain about the full picture of what's happening. Mikhaila has said she won't be posting further updates until things improve.