Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) stated in an interview aired Sunday that he believed disclosing his mental health difficulties to the public earlier this year would harm his career.
Fetterman talked up about his battle with major depression earlier this year in an interview with NBC’s Kristen Welker on “Meet the Press,” and advised people struggling with mental health concerns to seek assistance. He stated he was afraid to share his experiences publicly for the first few weeks while getting treated for depression at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
“Well, when— when it got released where I was and where it was going, it was — it was a big story,” he went on to say. “As a result, I assumed that would be the end of my career.” And I didn’t know what it would mean for my family or anything, so I — I truly didn’t know what would happen at that time.”
Fetterman signed himself into Walter Reed in February for treatment for mental depression, which he claims worsened after he was elected in 2022. He explained that he couldn’t get out of bed at the time and that he didn’t want to go to Washington, D.C., for his congressional orientation in January 2023.
He told Welker that he eventually chose to check himself into therapy after having “dark conversations” with himself about self-harm. He noted that a colleague of his committed suicide the day before the interview, and he thinks that by speaking out about his issues, he will assist others.
“And it would be my goal is to — if — if somebody could hear this kind of a message and this conversation that we’re having might make a different choice,” he went on to say. “And that’s why — I’m sure I never thought at any point in my life that it would be a career boon to talk about these kinds of topics.”
“But I — I wanted to be fully honest and to let everybody — if they’re being honest about themselves if they’re living in a blue county or a red county, either it’s themselves, or they know somebody or love somebody that struggles from this kind of an issue,” he said.