Fetterman “begs” men for mental health help after a stint with Walter Reed

Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania said he “begs” men struggling with mental health issues to seek help after his own stint at Walter Reed Medical Center made him “better.”

After a local interview Tuesday with Pittsburgh’s KDKA — where he said his “vicious” 2022 Senate campaign against Republican Dr. Mehmet Oz led to his hospital stay — Fetterman was interviewed Thursday by Morning Joe co-host Joe Scarborough, with the first clips airing on MSNBC Friday morning.

As May is Mental Health Awareness Month, Scarborough pointed to figures that showed men are less likely to seek treatment if they suffer from depression and anxiety, adding: “If you need help, get help, don’t be too proud .’

“I totally agree,” said the Pennsylvania Democrat. “I’d beg — it’s not about who’s tough or who isn’t. I would beg men, you are not too macho. It does not matter. The only person who is really going to hurt you more than anyone else is really your family.”

Fetterman said he believed he was hurting his own children when he couldn’t get out of bed after winning his 2022 Senate race.

“That’s what’s so insidious about depression,” he told Scarborough. “You could win and still feel like you’re losing.”

“I lay there, I lay there and watched this hurt my own children. Because they were confused. Because they thought that just because you won, why aren’t you — you should be happy,” he recalled.

Fetterman remained in the Senate race after suffering a stroke just days before the Pennsylvania Democratic primary last spring.

It kept him off the campaign trail for most of the summer.

In the fall, he returned to doing public events – although he was slowed down by the after-effects of his stroke, which had caused auditory processing problems.

He described hearing voices like the adults in the Peanuts cartoons.

In an interview with KDKA Pittsburgh on Tuesday, Fetterman said his “cruel” 2022 Senate campaign against Republican Dr. Mehmet Oz (pictured) led to declining mental health and eventually hospitalization.

Fetterman’s stroke (right) left him with auditory processing difficulties and he was still aided by captioning technology during his Thursday sit-down with Scarborough (left)

When he spoke to Scarborough, he was still assisted by closed captioning technology to understand what the MSNBC host was saying.

Fetterman’s speech sometimes faltered because of the stroke.

Scarborough asked the Pennsylvania Democrat what the Biden administration and Congress could do to improve mental health care in the US

Fetterman noted, “it’s all our challenges.”

“And we should have it because there may come a time when you need the kind of programming like me to change your life,” he said.

“It’s not a Democratic issue, this isn’t a Republican issue, this isn’t hard right, hard left, this was just a human issue,” the senator added. “I beg people for help if you can — and it works. Just like I refused to believe I could be made better.’

After the clip aired, Scarborough previewed their full sit-down, which airs Mondays at 8 p.m. on MSNBC.

“He’s determined to stay, he’s determined to fight through this,” Scarborough told his wife and co-host Mika Brzezinski and a roundtable of guests.

He also noted that Fetterman got most emotional about “the love he felt from Democrats and Republicans alike.”

“It’s the first thing he talked about,” Scarborough said.

Fetterman was fired from Walter Reed in late March.

He returned to work at the Capitol when Congress returned from a two-week Easter recess in April.