Jordan Peterson’s Health Collapse and the Turbulent Origins of 12 Rules for Life

Jordan Peterson did not write 12 Rules for Life from a position of stability. The book emerged from a period when his own life was coming apart—physically, psychologically, and emotionally. Publicly, Peterson was rising fast. His lectures were spreading online. His arguments about responsibility, meaning, and order were drawing both admiration and hostility. Privately, his body was beginning to fail him. The contrast between his growing influence and his internal deterioration is not incidental to the book. It is part of its architecture. The Slow Onset of Collapse Peterson has described years of chronic anxiety, insomnia, and autoimmune reactions long before the book was finished. These were not passing episodes. They were persistent, escalating, and resistant to simple explanations. At…