Senator John Fetterman released from Walter Reed hospital after receiving treatment for depression

Pennsylvania senator sought inpatient treatment for depression

John Fetterman has been released from Walter Reed hospital after receiving treatment for depression.

The senator for Pennsylvania is now back at his home in Braddock, just outside of Pittsburgh, after doctors said his depression was in remission.

“I am so happy to be home. I’m excited to be the father and husband I want to be, and the senator Pennsylvania deserves. Pennsylvanians have always had my back, and I will always have theirs,” Mr Fetterman said in a statement released by his office.

John Fetterman after his release from Walter Reed Military Medical Center (Image supplied by John Fetterman’s office)

“I am extremely grateful to the incredible team at Walter Reed. The care they provided changed my life. I will have more to say about this soon, but for now I want everyone to know that depression is treatable, and treatment works. This isn’t about politics — right now there are people who are suffering with depression in red counties and blue counties. If you need help, please get help.”

Mr Fetterman won his state’s crucial race in November last year, flipping a Republican-held seat as he recovered from a stroke. Since then, he had continued to have difficulty with auditory processing and often needs speech-to-text technology. The Senate has allowed him to use a speech-to-text tablet on the Senate floor.

A little over a month after being sworn in, the senator checked into Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Maryland in February to receive treatment for what his office described as clinical depression. Adam Jentleson, the senator’s chief of staff, said the senator had experienced depression “off and on throughout his life,” and that it became more severe in the weeks leading up to his admission.

At the time, his wife, Gisele Barreto Fetterman, praised her husband for seeking help.

“After what he’s been through in the past year, there’s probably no one who wanted to talk about his own health less than John,” she tweeted. “I’m so proud of him for asking for help and getting the care he needs.”

On Friday, Mr Fetterman’s office released a summary of his discharge briefing issued Dr David Williamson, Neuropsychiatry Chief and Medical Director at Walter Reed.

According to the briefing, upon admission, Mr Fetterman had “severe symptoms of depression with low energy and motivation, minimal speech, poor sleep, slowed thinking, slowed movement, feelings of guilt and worthlessness, but no suicidal ideation.”

The note said that his treatment at the hospital “gradually produced remission of his depression”.