John Fetterman opens up about his 'downward spiral' after winning the Pennsylvania Senate race in 2022: 'Depression can absolutely convince you that you actually lost'

• Sen. Fetterman in a Sunday interview revealed the challenges he faced before being treated for depression.
• "I had stopped engaging some of the most — things that I love in my life," Fetterman told CBS News.

Sen. John Fetterman in a Sunday interview opened up about the "downward spiral" that led him to seek treatment in February for clinical depression

The first-term Pennsylvania Democrat, who was discharged from the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Friday, told CBS "Sunday Morning" host Jane Pauley two days before returning home that even though he had won the hard-fought 2022 Senate race against Republican nominee Mehmet Oz, the depression that he experienced made him feel otherwise.

"It's like, you just won the biggest race in the country," Fetterman said. "The whole thing about depression is that objectively, you may have won, but depression can absolutely convince you that you actually lost. And that's exactly what happened. And that was the start of a downward spiral."

Fetterman revealed that between the November 2022 election and his swearing-in ceremony in January 2023, his depression began to accelerate.

"I had stopped leaving my bed. I had stopped eating. I was dropping weight," he told Pauley.

"I had stopped engaging some of the most — things that I love in my life," he added, which included his wife, Gisele, and their three children.

Fetterman said that while he "never had any self-harm" brought on by his depression, he previously felt "indifferent" about his health.

"If the doctor said, 'Gee, you have 18 months to live,' I'd be like, 'Yeah, okay, well that's how things go,'" he remarked.

Last year's Pennsylvania Senate election, which was an open seat contest as a result of then-Republican Sen. Pat Toomey's impending retirement, was seen as one of most competitive races in the country.

In 2016, then-Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump narrowly won the state over Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on his way to winning the White House, and in 2020, now-President Joe Biden defeated Trump in the state by a one-point margin.

Fetterman, the former mayor of Braddock, Pa., and the state's lieutenant governor at the time of his Senate campaign launch, had a stroke last May just days before the Democratic primary. But he still easily prevailed in the primary, buoyed by strong support in urban, suburban, and rural areas throughout the Commonwealth.

In the lead-up to the general election, Fetterman campaigned as he battled lingering auditory processing issues from the stroke, and participated in a debate with Oz — under the glare of frequent attacks from Oz's campaign and Republican officials who questioned the Democratic nominee's fitness for office.

But Fetterman won the race 51%-46%, picking up a critical seat for Democrats and affording the party an expanded 51-49 majority in the upper chamber.

When Fetterman first announced that he was seeking treatment for his depression, he received support from countless public officials, with many of them praising him for his honesty in discussing a subject that for many people remains very difficult to speak about openly.

Fetterman said he was looking forward to spending time at home, as his depression is now in remission.

"I can't wait to [see] what it really feels like, to take it all in, and to start making up any lost time," he said.