According to an email sent out to supporters a few minutes ago by his wife Gisele, John Fetterman last night checked himself into Walter Reed Medical Center to seek care for clinical depression.
As Gisele alludes to in her email, given what Fetterman has gone through over the last year, this is not terribly surprising. There are multiple potential and overlapping drivers of severe depression. Simply the stress of a campaign and relocation to a new life can be a pretty big stressor. The same goes even more so for the stress and loss one experiences trying to come to grips with and/or overcome a stroke-induced disability — such as the language processing issues Fetterman has publicly discussed. A stroke itself can also be a cause of depression in itself, making the brain less able to experience feelings of well-being or less resilient in the face of the psychological pressures of everyday life.
There’s no way to know from the outside precisely what Fetterman is grappling with. And my point here is not to speculate. It’s good that he is receiving what should be world-class care. We wish him and his family the very best.
