John Fetterman wants to be free from depression by speaking about it

What Was Happening to Fetterman When he Was In The Recovery After Mehmet Oz: A Memories From a Big Deal

Since Fetterman suffered a severe stroke while campaigning for the Senate last year, he has had to answer questions about his health. The first open seat in the state in a dozen years went to the former lieutenant governor who defeated Mehmet Oz. His victory helped cement the Democrats’ control of the Senate.

What’s the big deal? Fetterman’s public acknowledgement of his own mental health struggles is rare for politicians, even as depression has become an increasingly common challenge for Americans.

It was a big happy expression. I missed this place a lot. I wasn’t the kind of Senator that Pennsylvanians deserved, if I were honestly being honest, when I was in the throes of depression. I did not owe my family or my spouse, Gisele, a partner like that.

‘John, we believe your depression is in remission.’ I didn’t believe that at first. And I was blown away. And, now, my depression is in remission. It has been a joy to return home and to rejoin the Senate and be a member of the general public.

I didn’t realize that I was depressed. I didn’t understand what was happening. This has become the new normal for me. I didn’t realize I wasn’t eating. I didn’t know that I wasn’t drinking a lot.

I dropped 25 pounds. Sometimes I would say things that were incoherent. and I would become kind of just [disoriented], and getting lost walking around in Washington.

What I’ve Learned from Living with Depression, and How I’m going to Get Rigorous Treatment for Its Dementia

The option that was given to me was what was needed by the decision. I realized that I knew something was wrong. They knew that I wasn’t right. But even at that moment, I still kind of pushed back about it too, sometimes saying ‘Are you sure, I don’t really need it.’ I thought for a second that I was going to walk in here and sign myself in. Wait a minute, oh my god, no. I’m OK. I have this, I never mind.

I was blessed in my opportunities, and I am honored to be able to pay it forward. I want to say the kinds of things that I would have heard years ago that got me into action. And I would tell anybody listening to this interview, if you suffer from depression, or you have a loved one,  please let them know that you don’t need to just suffer with that depression. Get treatment, and get help. If I’d had done that years ago, I would not have had to put my family and myself and my colleagues [through] that if I had gotten help.

So if you suffer from it, you have an opportunity to get rid of it. I did not believe it. I am the guy who doesn’t believe that I can get rid of my depression. I did now.

NPR’s Scott Detrow: “Wants to pay it forward by speaking openly about his depression” — john Fetterman, Ph.D., senator from Pennsylvania

“I thought every night when I was laying in bed when I was in the hospital — like what if I just would have done something about this before, and I could kick myself and I just think about how my family wouldn’t [have been] put through it and my constituents,” he told NPR’s Scott Detrow in his first broadcast interview since his return to Congress.

“But now that I am back, I’m really committed to … letting people know: to anyone that has any of these feelings, there’s a path, and you can get better.”

“I can’t tell you how moving it was to me,” Fetterman said. “I would have been blown away if it was just warm, but a standing ovation and hugs and big shakes and everything — and it was just — I’m so grateful to our colleagues and to Leader [Chuck] Schumer.”

He added that some Senate colleagues visited him while he was receiving treatment at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center: Democratic Sens. Tina Smith of Minnesota and Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, as well as Republican Sen. Katie Britt of Alabama.

Fetterman and his team have decorated the windowless space in Capitol Hill with posters of the Philadelphia sports mascots, but they did not have a meeting there. The freshman senator — who recently learned that he can vote without wearing a suit — was wearing his signature Carhartt hoodie and grey gym shorts. He was also sporting brand-new hearing aids and using closed captioning to help process speech.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2023/04/20/1171052245/john-fetterman-wants-to-pay-it-forward-by-speaking-openly-about-his-depression

“I’m so sorry, Karl, that I can’t say goodbye,” he said after he won the Olympic Gold Cup in 2003

“After I won, I still felt that depression — like, I felt lost,” he said. I wasn’t happy. I wasn’t happy about it. I was relieved that it was over. I didn’t have an opportunity to recover from the stroke and I also had stress and depression. [I] really wasn’t able to address it.”

He said that he gets emotional when he thinks about it. I was 14 years old when it happened to me, what if this had happened to me?

“My oldest son had a conversation where he was having a hard time understanding — ‘why, Dad, why are you depressed? Like, you know you ran and you won.’ And I tried to tell Karl that I had a stroke and all of those things and then he was like, “but aren’t we enough?” Through tears he remembered. “Aren’t we enough?'”