John Fetterman encourages people to seek help for depression: 'You can get better'

Sen. John Fetterman.
(Image credit: Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) has returned to the Senate following treatment for clinical depression, and told NPR he's hoping that by talking about his mental health, it will help others who might be hesitant to seek help.

"I was so depressed that I didn't even realize I was depressed," he said during an interview with Scott Detrow. "I didn't even understand it. This, to me, just became the new normal." Fetterman said he wasn't eating or drinking enough and lost 25 pounds, and at times would also "say things, incoherent things, and I would become kind of just [disoriented], and getting lost walking around in Washington."

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.