Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) detailed his struggles with depression and the “downward spiral” after his November election that led to his recent six week hospitalization in a new interview.
Fetterman’s office said Friday that the senator had been released from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, where he had been receiving treatment for “major depression.” A preview of the senator’s interview with CBS Sunday Morning showed Fetterman explaining how his 2022 victory exacerbated his symptoms, which came five months after he suffered a near-fatal stroke that caused debilitating auditory processing problems.
FETTERMAN DISCHARGED FROM WALTER REED, DEPRESSION NOW IN REMISSION
“It’s like, you just won the biggest, you know, race in the country,” the 53-year-old Democrat told veteran journalist Jane Pauley. “And the whole thing about depression is that objectively you may have won, but depression can absolutely convince you that you actually lost. And that’s exactly what happened, and that was the start of a downward spiral.”
“I had stopped leaving my bed,” he continued. “I had stopped eating. I was dropping weight. I had stopped engaging some of the things that I love in my life.”
Fetterman was hospitalized at the George Washington University Hospital in Washington, DC, for a separate medical episode just one week before checking into Walter Reed. Having just been sworn in the month before, the incident, which was related to post-stroke depression, sparked concerns about the freshman senator’s ability to fulfill his work obligations.
Doctors say post-stroke depression is common and treatable through medication and talk therapy.
Adam Jentleson, Fetterman’s chief of staff, said the senator’s depression is now “in remission,” which medical professionals define as when a patient’s symptoms have decreased to the point of being manageable, allowing them to return to normal life. He will spend the next two weeks at home with family in Braddock, Pennsylvania, and will return to the Senate on April 17 when the current recess ends.
The Office of Congressional Accessibility Services granted several accommodations to Fetterman for his lingering hearing problems as he adjusted to his new legislative duties. The office provided him with real-time transcribing technology similar to a closed-captioning system that the Senate sergeant-at-arms installed on computer monitors in Fetterman’s office and in the Senate chamber.
In addition to the visual assistance, the 53-year-old now wears hearing aids for hearing loss, the medical team that treated Fetterman at Walter Reed said this week. Dr. David Williamson, who oversaw Fetterman’s treatment at the facility, said addressing his depression led to a “noticeable” improvement in his speaking abilities and predicted that his speech would improve “significantly” with continued therapy.
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Fetterman expressed gratitude to be home with his wife Giselle and their three children in a statement announcing his discharge from Walter Reed.
“I’m excited to be the father and husband I want to be, and the senator Pennsylvania deserves,” he said. “Pennsylvanians have always had my back, and I will always have theirs.”
