Fetterman: Depression ‘almost ruined me’

Senator John Fetterman said depression “almost ruined me” and he avoided a potentially “tragic” outcome by consulting Walter Reed in his latest remarks about seeking inpatient treatment for the disease.

The Pennsylvania Democrat sat down last week for an interview with MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough, which aired in full Monday night, and was asked if there was a “provoking event” that convinced him to seek help.

“I will never forget the decision where I am, if I do nothing to reclaim my life, it could be tragic,” said the 53-year-old lawmaker. “I was skeptical,” he added before getting treatment.

As in other interviews, Fetterman said his depression became a problem after his 2022 Senate campaign ended. In a local interview Tuesday with Pittsburgh’s KDKA, he used the word “vicious” to describe the fight against Republican TV personality Dr. Mehmet Oz.

But with Scarborough, Fetterman also spoke about adjusting to life in Washington and lashed out at the online hate his family has received since becoming a national political figure.

“Another thing that was also very punitive at the time is that a blowtorch on social media was unleashed on my family,” he said. “Let it loose on me, but on my family – I can’t imagine anyone thinking it would be funny to make fun of kids or whatever.”

Fetterman’s wife Gisele became a target of the political right when she became one of his main surrogates during the campaign after he suffered a stroke.

“Our family and I went through this grueling campaign and now you’ve won and now what’s wrong with us? Isn’t it enough for us?’ Fetterman returned to Scarborough. “You know, why do you feel this way?”

“And I tried to explain to them, no, it’s different,” he said of conversations with his family. “Winning doesn’t mean it still didn’t hurt.”

He told Scarborough, “That’s what’s so insidious about depression. 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.

Scarborough asked Fetterman if he looked at leaders like President Abraham Lincoln or British Prime Minister Winston Churchill – who struggled with depression – but fought through it to become historical figures.

“I’d say there’s almost nobility in it. Our suffering. There’s something aristocratic about that,’ Fetterman remarked. “So maybe sometimes it makes you harder on anything. It didn’t toughen me up, in fact it almost ruined me,” he revealed.

“And I know it hurt my family a lot,” the lawmaker said.

He said the “catalyst” to his recovery came from his children writing inspirational notes to him and, in turn, wanting to get better for his children.

“And it kind of became like that triggered my idea that it’s like there’s a really big reason to get better,” Fetterman said. “Having put the fear in my kids of losing me or what’s wrong was really the biggest motivation for me to deal with it.”

He said he was “ashamed” that his 8-year-old son had to be the one to enthusiastically cheer him on.

“I was the man she should have encouraged and encouraged. No, it was the kids who did all that. And they didn’t blame me. They let their love come through,” Fetterman said, noting that he had “a lot of support.”

In a previous clip that aired Friday, Fetterman said he “begs” other men struggling with mental health issues to get help.

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 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 – though he was slowed down by the after-effects of his stroke, which had caused auditory processing difficulties.

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

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 I do 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.’

Previewing the full interview on Friday morning, Scarborough said, “He’s determined to stay, he’s determined to fight through this.”

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.