{"id":770243,"date":"2026-06-30T16:33:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T16:33:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/770243\/"},"modified":"2026-06-30T16:33:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T16:33:13","slug":"gop-rep-tom-kean-announces-depression-diagnosis-after-mysterious-monthslong-absence-from-congress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/770243\/","title":{"rendered":"GOP Rep. Tom Kean announces depression diagnosis after mysterious monthslong absence from Congress"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Republican Rep. Tom Kean<\/a> of New Jersey said Tuesday that he experienced severe depression that required a long-term stay in the hospital, keeping him away from Washington more than 100 days.\n <\/p>\n

\n Kean announced his previously undisclosed health condition in highly anticipated floor remarks Tuesday, acknowledging it was \u201cnot an easy speech to give\u201d but that he felt he owed his constituents and colleagues an explanation after months of keeping them in the dark.\n <\/p>\n

\n Speaking to a near-empty House chamber on Tuesday, Kean offered the first account of where he had been during the last several months. It began with the diagnosis of depression early this spring \u2014 and required months of treatment.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cSeveral months ago, due to health concerns, I entered the hospital,\u201d Kean said. \u201cI did not believe that this would result in a long-term stay. I was given the diagnosis of depression.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe doctors recommended that I remain in the hospital to address my illness,\u201d Kean added, noting that he was initially hesitant to remain hospitalized \u2014 but that he ultimately chose to stay. During that recovery, Kean\u2019s office had previously promised he\u2019d return in a few weeks, but that timeline came and went.\n <\/p>\n

\n Kean said Tuesday that he truly believed he could return quickly \u2014 but that he instead learned: \u201cThere is no timeline for healing. There is no timeline for recovery, only the work of getting better one day at a time.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Kean had the support from his own GOP leader: Speaker Mike Johnson said earlier Tuesday that he encouraged Kean to make his return to Washington and to be transparent about what he had been facing. Johnson stressed that the public would sympathize with him.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt\u2019s not an uncommon kind of condition and ailment that he\u2019s been fighting, and I think people resonate with it. I think he\u2019ll get a lot of empathy, because it\u2019s something that\u2019s very, very common. So, I encouraged him to come back,\u201d Johnson told reporters.\n <\/p>\n

\n Speaking from the floor, Kean said he was now ready to be back, feeling \u201chealthier, stronger and ready to return to the work that I love.\u201d And he added that he was now clear-eyed about the millions of people facing depression who don\u2019t receive the kind of help he did.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cMany do so quietly. Many do so alone. Many do so with a heavy burden that the rest of us never see. And to them, I would say asking for help is not a weakness, it is a strength,\u201d Kean said.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Republican Rep. Tom Kean of New Jersey said Tuesday that he experienced severe depression that required a long-term…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":770244,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[64,63,137,514,515],"class_list":["post-770243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mental-health","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-health","tag-mental-health","tag-mentalhealth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/770243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=770243"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/770243\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/770244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=770243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=770243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=770243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}