Thank you, Jordan, for answering my question so generously. I’m grateful I’m alive while you’re here. Long life to you, sir.

The guy who asked this question is so brave. I pray he prevails.

When I had to go to a domestic abuse shelter they thought I may have had a stroke because I had such difficulty talking. When you are so traumatized you can hardly speak and you no longer trust your percepetions it is a frightening place. Thank God for a wonderful counselor at the domestic abuse shelter in Shreveport la in 2014. She saved my life.

That dragon line is soo true. I had anxiety and depression problem last year and my psychologist gave me excercises at home. To bring up the things in my mind that made me sick (literally sick too my stomach) instead of avoiding them. And by doing that the anxiety and stress fades away. Avoiding the things you think will give you anxiety actually give you a lot more anxiety and stress.

Jordan is a man of great compassion. He really wants to help people. I can't understand any of the hate he gets.

My Dad just passed away this week, I'm at my absolute lowest. He said he doesn't want me to be lonely and that he doesn't want me to waste my life. That's kind of a pressure, how to not waste your life? He said he just wants me to be happy. He's the best father I could have ever asked for and everything he did he done for us, his kids. I love you Dad! And I'm sorry, I thought we had more time.

Humanity is so damn lucky this man got himself healthy and stepped back into the spotlight to help all of us.

I've been in my own hell for years now and there seems to be no end to it. Men like Dr. Peterson have kept my head above water just enough to hold onto some hope I'll get there some day.

I just wanted to take a moment to express my admiration and appreciation for his work. The insights and teachings on personality and the human condition have been incredibly valuable to me, helping me gain a deeper understanding of myself and the world around me. His ability to convey complex ideas in a clear and relatable way is truly remarkable, and his lectures and books have been an inspiration to me. His dedication to helping others and being a shining example of what it means to be a great teacher. He is exactly the type of MAN the world needs today.

To anyone reading this, the advice Jordan is giving works, I promise you. Thank you, Jordan. God bless you.

Whoever chose the color scheme for this speech was a genius. As an artist myself, I couldn’t take my eyes off it. The grayed whites of his suits makes his flesh look more alive by comparison, and the backlight illumination outlines him and sets him apart from the shaded red and blue in the background. It gives the impression of intelligence and clarity, all while illuminating him in white light that makes him seem all the more pure and trusting. Simply magnificent, I’m gonna have to draw or maybe even paint him.

I have PTSD. The thing about knitting back together your idea of the world and yourself has been very helpful.

God bless this man does so much for us all 🙏🏻🙌🇮🇪💪🙌

The man was unsure you would give him the time of day with his question but you nailed a perfect reply, very cool..

Recently while logging my past traumas to find the root cause of my CPTSD I've found out my childhood was more traumatic than the entirety of my military service I conflict zones. That was a pill to swallow but it helped me to be clearer about where it all came from. I can accept those things that happened to me then, I was a boy, I didn't make these choices for these events as I had with military service. Writing down from childhood to now helped immensely on my road to mental health. Thank you. I have shared this with my entire VWF post and prior service buddies. Thank you Thank you 🙏

Wow I felt it when he said “ almost everyone, who’s been traumatized, has been touched by their own malevolence or by someone else’s”

I read “ordinary men” in college and to this day I reference it as the book that changed my entire life. I could barely read the pages through all of my tears. It’s a must read, I can’t believe he referenced it here. I’ve never heard anyone else speak about this book. Thank you Jordan!

Dr. Peterson , I’m sure this won’t be seen. But you truly have given me something that was buried and hidden so deep… it’s sad to say but these videos sometimes keep me going. Thank you

Years in therapy, and the approach of all my therapists has been the opposite of what he said, and the opposite of what I asked them for in therapy. I got worse, thanks to therapy. I knew why. I knew what therapy did wrong, and how they wronged me and hurt me. In the end they judged me as hopeless case, too much damage, and telling the insurance that I was not willing to heal. Since I stopped therapy, I got much better.

I held the dead body of my best friend Tyler Nixon on May 16th of 2007 too early in life to be able to deal with it properly. He overdosed in secret right next to me and he died while we were sleeping. He didn’t mean to I am convinced. But he did. And when I found him was hours later and he was blue with bubbles coming up out of his mouth and when I grabbed him and tried to help he was long cold and even stiff. That was the beginning of many horrible events in my own life. And almost my entire family died. And as I speak this text through my fingers if not for my own children I have only my mom left. All other family members have been destroyed. All known family are gone. Except my mom who is currently in hospice and not long to go away herself. It’s GOD who saved me via His Son who just so happens to be the Core and Source of all the art and beauty in my entire life.

Jordan is such a good psychologist and a such a empathetic person🙏🏼

Psychedelics are just an exceptional mental health breakthrough. It's quite fascinating how effective they are against depression and anxiety. Saved my life.

Engage with the Dragon that Burned You-wow Jordan that is a message I will mediate on today. Praying for your health and continued strength and courage. You have been called for such as time as this-and those of us who follow and respect you know it is not without personal consequence. I hope you can find comfort in knowing how much we appreciate your voice in this world today.

Yep. If you’re struggling in life, it usually means there is something you’re supposed to be learning. When We get burned, we tend to focus our attention on possible external factors. Then immediately blame others, before we think to examine what our own actions might have been to create the burn.

This is the kind of content that hooked me to Peterson, and hope we can have a lot more like it. I will sit and listen to politics or religion to kill time, but what I, and I think others too are really looking for deep down is therapy in some form or another. We're all broken and we all feel we are less than we could be, and this is speaking directly to that extremely deep desire for purpose or towards a better life.

This couldn't have come at a better time. I really needed to hear this today. Can't begin to thank you enough🙏

Jordan looks like an angel sitting there .. dad for us all 😢😭 most of the times, am unable to stop tears when jordan talks with such empathy and in equally encouraging comforting manner.. a dad i never had..

Sending best wishes to the vet who asked this question. Hope it’s helped and he’s doing better. He seemed like a genuine, nice person.

Wow. This is the first time I've ever even heard of someone else who sees the lines. The ones I see are vertical and they run up and down, looks like energy currents.. I've also been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder and PTSD from years of abuse leading up to an assault where I was taken to ICU at a trauma center and narrowly survived. Dr. Peterson is so valuable. And he's right, also, writing has been one of the best forms of therapy for me. It's hurts and it's hard sometimes, but I think leaving the bitter roots buried deep in my core would rot me from the inside out. Facing the dragon is definitely necessary. And I feel validated hearing that maybe seeing the "lines" didn't mean I was crazy. Maybe I was just traumatized!! God bless you Jordan.🙏

I was there that night sitting in the audience when this question was asked. Being a survivor of childhood trauma and having PTSD myself this really resonated with me and in my times of darkness these videos give me hope. F.J

The inner child can not come out and feel safe until the archetypal King shows up to protect it and show that it's a child of God

This brought tears to my eyes just by seeing the pain in the gentleman’s eyes. I love Dr Peterson on so many levels. His compassion, integrity, intelligence and his gift of sharing to others in order to help others~brings me to my knees. I’m entirely grateful for the good in him, it brings peace to my spirit in troubled waters. Thank you Dr. Peterson.❤️❤️❤️

I’m so glad he was able to heal! What a horrible thing! I had ptsd, but managed to overcome it. For most purposes.

I think the gut reflex of someone dealing with trauma is to avoid anything that reminds them of it, but that only contributes to a heightened fear response. This is why voluntary exposure therapy is so useful for people with anxiety. You're gradually confronting the thing that scares you and that (hopefully) creates a desensitization effect.

Finally someone with real understanding! Every medical person treating PTSD should listen to this! I had severe, treatment resistant, complex PTSD from a lot of stuff overseas including 2 assassination attempts. Multiple independent psychiatric assessments and full medical board said I had no hope of any meaningful recovery and I was classified as Total and Permanently Disabled. My life now is very different but it is genuinely awesome. If you’re currently wrecked by PTSD - you have a future and it CAN be awesome too. Dr Peterson highlighted 2 of the things that helped me. Deliberately facing things that triggered me every day - wisely! Small, gradual, deliberate, exposure to things and then reflecting a little bit on that. Being in a supermarket aisle eventually didn’t tell my brain I was back being hunted and trapped. We’re constantly told discomfort is bad. That is the most destructive thing you can believe. Discomfort is our friend. Without discomfort we can’t grow, adapt, re-program in any way mentally or physically. Coming to understand general malevolence / evil and de-personalising it was also huge for me. One critical thing I would add, which Dr Peterson didn’t mention, is coming to understand my true identity and where my self worth truly comes from. Only the creator can attribute actual worth to a creation, so understanding that fundamental truth transformed me. The infinite Gd who created everything that exists out of nothing wants personal relationship with me, and you. He took on human flesh and died horrendously in my place, and yours, to allow that eternal relationship. That is what truly defines our worth. The fact that we have the free will to choose to ignore or accept that is a mind-boggling revelation about who God is. I’ve done some self authoring in the past which was helpful but am going to buy the self authoring course he mentioned so I can work more on that aspect.

I once saw someone describe Jordan Peterson as _"You're new stepdad, who actually loves you"_ As I went on to watch his videos I'd come to see why they said that. This video is a good example of that ✨

Thank you Jordan for helping so many broken men. The world certainly needs more love, understanding and compassion. Men and women need to love and respect each other. Love and respect go hand in hand. ✝️❤️🙏🏻🕊

Voluntary confrontation Yes. I'm my current job i am required to operate a scissor lift to maintenance and install equipment in the ceiling. (Bay four is 30 feet high). It has taken four years, and I have very little problem now, working with heights. Before I was extremely intimidated nearly to the point of inability. I faced it by considering it the dragon I must slay. You CAN slay dragons.

The end part about PTSD and malevolence is spot on.

This man is phenomenal

I have cptsd and at some point struggled severely.. especially to read and form verbal words. I would sometimes sit with what happened and make sure I feel what it is I needed to feel until one day it had no effect on me anymore. This is when I realised that other trivial things that used to bother or trigger me, doesn't have any effect on me either. Thank you 🙏🌻

Happy Friday Mr Peterson. Wishing you and the family well

I have CPTSD since age 17, when I had surgery the general anaesthetic didn’t work, my body paralysed by it, so I couldn’t move or speak, I could feel everything. But I was brought to instant tears when Jordan said most with PTSD have been subject to malevolence… the trauma maybe beginning when abducted by a couple with a friend when we were 11… Something shifted in my awareness tonight of my experience listening to this video… and how I can navigate forward 🙏

I know that the man had studied and read a lot but the way he expresses thoughts, feelings and knowledge, the way that reaches any human brain understanding so that people can feel seen and understood is something to fall in love with. Fall in love with a human brain is beyond everything.

I love when you show a way of dealing with psychological problems that you used in your clinical practice, its so enlightening. Thank you, Jordan!

I had an 'ah ha' moment of insight as I listened to this, realising that I very regularly have dreams that involve many people from highschool. Perhaps some of my struggles are because there is a part of me who is still stuck in that age, that part of my self concept has not yet grown to where I am now Perhaps willingly and actively looking at that part of me before bed could be a way to move through what has been stuck, rather than just experiencing the intrusive feelings, thoughts and memories of shame that plague me throughout the day I'm going to try it! Thank you Jordan :)

The best description of trauma and how to address it that I have ever heard.

Indeed. I suffered a fraud by a “friend” in a business that caused me to lose everything and then to fall in depression and PTSD, distrusting people in general. It wasn’t until I randomly saw the story of slavery on TV that I understood how evil was universal, as Jordan says. This had a curative effect: I wasn’t special, I was actually being entitled by feeling that bad, compared to those people. The progress started since there and now I am now fully recovered.

What a gem of a mind JP has, just wondering what a trip it must be for any ordinary Joe to live 1hr in JPs mind, so extraordinaly well arranged in a depth and breadth of knowledge and insights with such a fast brain. Im in awe everytime i listen and so thankful to be able to listen to this man.

This clip brought tears to my eyes. The persecution JP faces today reminds me of someone else's who many of us have read about. Stay strong!

why does he look like a supervillian in that seat lmao

As a fellow Vet I am happy you asked. You did a lot of as a great service with your courage. You spoke for a lot of us who would not have gotten the chance to…..

I so appreciate your generosity, sir!

Prayers with u & your family I am hear a lot is going on in your life. Thank you for your work over the years. You are an amazing person Jordan.

Thank you for being so open with suggestions. I truly appreciate you. You are a gift to many people. They don't want any of us to better ourselves. They want us to stay asleep. You are waking people up. You are a blessing.

We are so fortunate to have Jordan! Just listen and you can be guided in a better direction, his observations and tools to move forward with are priceless☆☆☆☆☆

hope the man recovers from his trauma

Such a thoughtful and compassionate response- real tools for real suffering.... as well as long term ways to engage with coming to grips with realities of evil in the world and in self

The girl in the story is similar to mine. I was an adult who lost a child to the bully. It fragmented my perceptions a long time, pointless trying to express this to a person who has narcissistic personality disorder, he had me thrown in jail repeatedly for 8 hours the maximum holding time for when pathological liars convince police you are guilty of their crimes to cover their tracks. I felt infantile and defenceless against all these authorities meant to protect victimised women and kids, social work failed to look beyond the theatre or the fact my psychologically alienated son was saying what he was terrorised to say, despite saying the opposite four times to police when interviewed with me at his original home. I fear the magnitude of soul crime will never be acknowledged. I suffer cptsd and i have drug dependency on the horror of benzodiazepines, im going through that hell while at the same time totally impossible to express any of my feelings without being shamed and blamed for"ruining the family meeting with my son and narcy in a lot of ways or should I say just completely lacking empathy other supposed family. I really don't have a family in the traditional sense, narcissists make short work of destroying every connection to the scape goat. Despite the cheating etc he was this great family guy who seems untouchable despite the obvious destruction. A dragon so fierce and malevolent it will destroy the strongest consciousness, I was hearing my name called, I had delusional and invasive thoughts, none of which I'd ever had before the cptsd or the drug dependency on benzos. I was beside myself as any mother would be being told it was 18 months before a case hearing and no access to a kidnapped child being cavorted in front of me by my supposed replacement mother, no regard for my sons feelings or mine. I lost everything. A perfect question and answer for my situation, stuck in freeze response to ambient abuse that never ends. Bullied doesn't cover it, soul murder might.

So much love for you JP...

It's so beautifully uncanny, how JP can articulate experiences of people who've gone through bad stuff with such empathy! 🙌

I've been struggling a few years now. I was at a place of no hope care or answers for existence. Getting some help from my Dr and a lot of your videos and others have brought me to a place of hope and purpose. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I truly needed to hear things that may seem common sense to you. The world needs more people like u. I may have continued that path and it would have led to death. I was brushing past it's door. Forever great ful.

I just love doctor Peterson he's so dang good with everybody so down-to-earth with his amazing abilities I'm sure he'll go down in history is one of the all-time greats

Thank you mate, I also suffer from PTSD and didnt get to make it to his Brisbane show, I wanted to ask him something similar, so thank you for the question.

So much respect for what Dr Peterson is doing. This is one of my favourite clips.

The man who asked this question has a really really unique spirit and I’m very impressed with his ability to understand and work through his ptsd. I also have ptsd and it’s a war you absolutely can win. Stay strong 💪

Thank you Dr Peterson for this wonderful explanation of evil. I was naive for a long time and was done in when confronted by malevolence. By realizing that we all have evil in us, I'm not as shocked when I see people act in what I perceive to be hateful ways.

I love how he ends this with putting good and evil in context. Thank you Dr. Peterson for bringing awareness and conversation around the Word of God.

Beautiful how Jordan takes the extra time to help this man. I hope he gets the full healing that he needs

❤ thank you Dr peterson and the gentleman asking you about ptsd , I wish you both both well and much peace and love . I agree you can knit or glue yourself back together and begin to heal with this self exploration.

Well done for having the courage to ask the question, mate. I've also ex vet and cop, and also went to Marion Centre to do the PTSD course. So I know how hard it would be to ask the question and lucky to come across the video.

This is excellent advice. I strongly recommend the self authoring program, it’s not expensive and I found it extremely helpful to come to terms with a whole lot of trauma from my past. Narrating your own story gives a chance to digest it better and also identify things you missed before. I wouldn’t suggest a war veteran is “to blame” for their experiences, but it’s still helpful to think deeply about “why that happened and why it affected me so much”. Very grateful for Dr Peterson’s wisdom, the level of insight in these impromptu Q&A segments of his recent tour was astounding.

The things you touched on are things I have told my counselor. The mirror, evil, chaotic thinking, fear of people. I have come a long way in many areas and even recently finding out I have trigger words. My recovery process is at maslow's 3rd tier. I havent found belonging. I have accepted I am a nomad. In my 2 churches that has put me in a strange place because I wont join either as a member. God has shown me that I am like Paul, I dont belong to anyone. I will be baptized and serve both. I have bonding issues and can not get over what I see in people . I see them, not just their physical presence. Maybe self authoring would help, I do own the book ordinary men, I haven't read it yet. Thanks for this help

I remember being in middle school and a male math teacher would pink on this younger boy, calling him to the front of the class and without mercy belittling him. All us kids would laugh, me too, but secretly I would flinch and feel bad for the boy, but was too afraid to stick up for him,out of fear the teacher would do to me what he did to the boy. To this day I wished I had done something!!

Imagine being rejected and breaking a young girl like that. It's literally making me cry to think about that poor child. I was bullied, but I believe what was done to me was almost sweet compared to what she must have endured.

Thank you Doctor Peterson! I'll be practicing these. Your other videos talking about PTSD have helped me immensely. God bless you! Oh, if it helps in your stats or for reference purposes. I'm a cult survivor. Referencing PTSD and Malevolence was the key to my grasping what happened, and to start rebuilding myself.

That was brilliant Jordan Peterson! I could have listened to you the rest of my evening 😅

Wow. Simply wow. @vetandsirens - SO GLAD you asked that question...with your background and experience...giving JP the opportunity to engage with your situation...and...with so many of the rest of us needing to hear something of his response, too. Sooo grateful. And, I hope you find the supports you need or that you can mine the insights offered you here, as you continue your recovery. Best, nj

Wow! This gentleman is incredibly brave to have asked this.

Thank you 🙏 struggling to see hope or light . CPTSD is incredibly hard and personally I’m constantly getting into situations where i retraumatise myself through others especially with men . Last relationship just ended it was unsafe but I was so desperate to be saved I stayed longer then I should . He was everything at the start I felt seen safe and loved only to find out it was all just a plan a deception and a counterfeit

I know that this man holds himself to the work he suggests as a solution. He is who he is because of his own experiences, but he makes us all feel capable of reaching this inner peace.

Thank you and God Bless you all and the Vet that shared. I have CPTSD too and I have not looked in a mirror in 6+ years...very informative. I look forward to trying the autobiography. Thank u!

Thank you Jordan, from a long time PTSD struggler.

Jordan is the most empathetic Psychologist I have ever heard! He really takes the time to help so many people, especially with this kind of outreach. We are lucky to have someone like him to help keep things in perspective. Thank you sir! ✨🙏🇺🇸

God bless him he has helped me when I here him talk its so emotional it hits me in my soul

As much as you can, show love. Love takes care of all of these no matter how complex. No matter how good of a person you think you are, do not judge anyone. If you cannot be of help, at least keep your opinion to yourself because it does the other person no good. Keep that pride and ego of "I am better". Thank you.

Thank you so much Jordan for sharing your wisdom and knowledge. It is greatly appreciated. I have noticed while listening to your talks and lectures over the years that you sound angrier now than you did earlier. Hope you are taking time off to connect with what you love and what brings you joy as I wish you to be around for awhile.

College of psychologists needs to take a look at this comment section and re-educate themselves.

To know that what has caused my suffering is not about me, but created by "causes and conditioning", itself frees and liberates. Thank you sir.

I just love this man. Light of the world and voice of sanity as we transit thro this current madness. Thanks you Jordan, thank you!!!! Amazing life's work you've done. xxx

I like the term "glued yourself back together". When I first went to therapy, I had a therapist that told me she didn't understand what I was saying, because it was so fragmented. I could only incoherently talk about how I felt, it was too traumatic for me to simply say what literally happened. Healing meant I could logically describe what happened, without veering away

Incredible. I was doing this today just to experiment. Thank you Jordan Peterson for teaching me to think properly, for there is a lot more to work on. Thank God

Blessed be the followers of Peterson!

Peterson’s approach to healing & growth is accurate, but also it’s important to include the kind of service and hard work that you can orient yourself toward, or aim at, that also can put the past way into the past & move you forward. In my experience, you’ve got to be slaying both the inward dragon as well as the dragons out in the world. After a while it becomes a rhythmic thing and as it changes you for the better, it changes the world around you for the better.

Jordan= You have no idea, how many times you've helped me find A WAY- to carry on. You are a voice of sanity- in a very dark world. Thank you sir.

Thank you. Such a bless watching.

This is an ages old psychological philosophy and it's accurate for sure. If you've suffered a traumatic event you are far more likely to be able to overcome or at least endure the effects if you subject yourself to processing those traumatic events. Ideally on your terms. This isn't always feasible but those who avoid facing their traumatic events will undoubtedly be controlled by them.

Humility is a virtue, you were humble and courageous to share with us .. and acceptance of what happened to you ... good and evil are experienced in life. As you heal, we all heal.

Thank you Sir...for being so real. Humanness in expression.

Brilliant stuff. The more I listen the more I appreciate Jordan. It’s as if anyone gives him a hard time, I would like to whip out a video such as this and politely give it to them (even though I’d love to shove it in their face) and ask them to come back to me afterwards. Jordan is a real bellwether person. Check out the end of his talk in San Jose on Jan 25/23. It’s all about developing our listening skills