Why I admire John Fetterman

On mental illness.

(John Fetterman)

I am not a regular watcher of the Sunday news shows. (Sorry!) I tend to find myself watching the English Premier League at that time with my boys.

So, I didn’t watch Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman’s appearance on “Meet the Press” this past Sunday live. But, I did make a note to myself to go back and check it out — because he was talking about his own mental health journey. Which interests me.

I made the time to watch the interview today. You can and should too. Right here:

For those unfamiliar: Fetterman, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, checked himself into Walter Reed Medical Center in February 2023 — just weeks into his first term — to be treated for depression. He left the hospital 6 weeks later.

In the “MTP” interview, Fetterman admitted that he thought that checking himself into the hospital likely spelled the end of his political career.

“When it got released where I was and where it was going, it was, it was a big story. And so, I had assumed that that would be the end of my career,” Fetterman said. “I really didn’t know what would happen at that point.”

Which, I get — and feel deeply. Even though we are now in the year 2024, we are STILL dealing with this reality: Mental illness is viewed very differently than physical illness.

If Fetterman, back in February, had announced he was going into the hospital following a cancer diagnosis, he would have no reason to fear for his career. Plenty of people in Congress have battled physical issues — sometimes for years at a time — and come back without incident.

But, Fetterman wasn’t announcing a cancer diagnosis. He was announcing that he was mentally ill — and that he had made the decision that the best way to get better was through in-patient care.

And, unfortunately, what happened after that announcement affirmed just how far we have to go when it comes to how we talk about and deal with mental illness.

Republicans, mostly, called for him to resign. Social media was filled with insinuations that Fetterman was crazy or had gone insane — and worse. (Fetterman, in the “Meet the Press” interview, called social media an “accelerant” for his depression.)

All of this dates back to how we have long treated mental illness — as a shame, a judgment on you, a sign that you have failed somehow, that you are weak. And that you certainly can’t be trusted with any sort of leadership role or much of anything else really.

This hits home for me — big time. In my early 20s, right out of college, I started to experience crippling anxiety. (Somewhat weirdly, the first time I really felt it was election day 2000.) It was terrifying. I felt like the walls were closing in, that everything I once thought was steady was, in fact, not at all.

I found a psychiatrist, got on some meds and was able to resume my life. But, in the 25 years or so since then, I have dealt with anxiety (and OCD around health issues) almost every single day.

And yet, for years I felt very constrained to speak out about how I had struggled and was struggling. Because, I admit, I was worried about how it might affect my career. Did I really want my bosses knowing that I was in a daily struggle with my anxiety? No, I thought. Better for them to think I was the ideal employee — well balanced, happy and, most importantly, deeply sane.

What I have since realized is that I was part of the problem. By working to conceal my own struggles, I was helping to perpetuate the idea that mental illness is something shameful, something to be hidden away, something to never, ever talk about.

Which is, of course, how we go to this place societally — where a U.S. Senator admits that he thought his career was over because he was depressed.

But, here’s the thing: Fetterman (and I) are in much better company than we might have realized.

In 2023, Gallup reported that almost 3 in 10 Americans said they had been diagnosed with depression at some point in their lives. And that number doesn’t account for the people who are depressed but haven’t gone to a doctor and received a diagnosis!

On anxiety, the numbers are similar. Forbes reported that almost 1 in 5 Americans are suffering from an anxiety disorder — more than 40 million people.

There are tens of millions of people suffering through and struggling with mental illness as I type. And yet we, as a society, are still not talking nearly enough about it.

(It is no coincidence — at least not to me — that suicides reached an all time high in America in 2022, the latest year for which data is available.)

Which brings me back to Fetterman — and why I admire him. It has zero to do with his politics. It has everything to do with the fact that, on a daily basis, he is showing people (both those with mental illness and those without) how someone who has depression can be a productive member of society.

I don’t doubt Fetterman has bad days. I do too. (The last few, for me, have been particularly tough.) But, the point is he keeps going. One foot after another. Day in and day out. And he does so in public. For all to see.

That makes him a role model in my eyes. Someone who just by living (and, in the “MTP” interview Fetterman said he had contemplated suicide) shows that mentally ill people shouldn’t be simply shunted off to the side. (Again, if we did that, there would be tens of millions of our fellow citizens affected.) Someone who, by admitting his struggles, makes it ok for others to admit theirs.

If we want to normalize how we think about, talk about and treat mental illness in this country, we need more public figures like Fetterman who make clear that just because you are not perfect, you are still plenty. I am thankful he stepped forward in this fight.