{"id":278954,"date":"2025-11-12T21:07:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-12T21:07:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/278954\/"},"modified":"2025-11-12T21:07:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-12T21:07:07","slug":"fetterman-says-stay-in-this-game-to-others-struggling-with-mental-health-as-he-reflects-on-his-journey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/278954\/","title":{"rendered":"Fetterman says “stay in this game” to others struggling with mental health as he reflects on his journey"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman<\/a> told “CBS Mornings” about the turning point that changed his life as he opened up about his struggles with mental health<\/a> following his 2022 stroke. He also shared a message to others in need of help.<\/p>\n

“I know it’s not a political winner to talk about depression or self-harm or suicide, but that’s an important conversation I’m willing to have,” the Democratic senator said. “My life has been touched by this personally. But also, I know people that have took their lives and the tragedy that’s left after that.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

He said his message to those going through such challenges is a simple one: “Stay in this game.”<\/p>\n

Fetterman<\/a> started his political career 20 years ago as mayor of Braddock, Pennsylvania. He was elected lieutenant governor in 2018 and four years later won the Senate race.<\/p>\n

But during Fetterman’s Senate campaign, he suffered a stroke and questioned if he should drop out of the race.<\/p>\n

“It’s entirely appropriate to have a conversation with yourself and people around you, of a stroke that quite literally almost took my life, now, should I remain in that?” he said.<\/p>\n

“It changed my life”<\/p>\n

In his book “Unfettered,” Fetterman details<\/a>\u00a0his recovery from his stroke and his mental health struggles that followed.<\/p>\n

“For me, depression is the ultimate lie that you begin to tell yourself, that perhaps the best solution is to take yourself out. And now,” he said.<\/p>\n

For him, the turning point came when a therapist told him his children needed him.<\/p>\n

“It changed my life,” he said. “That’s the message that I’d have to people in the throes of this now is \u2026 whoever [is] in your life, they need you, they need you.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

“It woke me up,” he added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fetterman said he wanted to talk about it now because he knows others are struggling as he did.<\/p>\n

“I don’t know what your road for recovery is, but I promise if you stay in the game, you will get better, and I’m being here right now is a testament to that.”<\/p>\n

If you or someone you know is in emotional distress or a suicidal crisis, you can reach the\u00a0988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline<\/a>\u00a0by calling or texting 988. You can also\u00a0chat with the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline here<\/a>. For more information about\u00a0mental health care resources and support<\/a>, The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) HelpLine can be reached Monday through Friday, 10 a.m.\u201310 p.m. ET, at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264).<\/p>\n

\n More from CBS News\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman told “CBS Mornings” about the turning point that changed his life as he opened…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":278955,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[49,48,84,105273,393,394],"class_list":{"0":"post-278954","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-john-fetterman","12":"tag-mental-health","13":"tag-mentalhealth"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=278954"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278954\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/278955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=278954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=278954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=278954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}