Biden Shares the Mental Health Advice He Wants Americans to Know

President Joe Biden shared some mental health advice for Americans with podcaster Jay Shetty.

“It’s just [about] showing up,” Biden said on an episode of the On Purpose with Jay Shetty podcast, released Monday. “Even people you don’t know that well—call and say, ‘I’m thinking of you.’”

Shetty, a former monk, is now an author, mental health podcaster and self-help guru.

“I think there’s more anxiety and loneliness today than there’s been in a long, long time,” Biden added. 

The president also reflected on his own experiences with grief: the deaths of his first wife, Neilia Hunter Biden, in 1972, and son Beau Biden in 2015. Grief is ongoing, he said, but connecting with loved ones makes a difference. 

"The day will come when you open that closet door and you smell the fragrance of her dresses, or you walk by that park where you walked with your child or your wife or your husband, or that thing that reminds you (of them),” Biden said. “For the longest time, it just brings a tear to your eye. But eventually, every once in a while, it’ll bring a smile before it brings a tear to your eye. And when that happens, you know you’re gonna make it. … It doesn’t mean you still don’t cry, doesn’t mean the pain still isn’t real even years later, but you know you can make it.” 

President Biden and his administration have increasingly supported mental health efforts. 

In 2022, the White House addressed what it dubbed an “unprecedented mental health crisis,” calling on health leaders, politicians and other public figures to find new ways to support others, both on legislative and personal levels.  

The Biden administration also partnered with MTV to host the White House’s first Mental Health Youth Forum. The event included First Lady Jill Biden, singer Selena Gomez, health leaders and young mental health activists for a conversation about ending mental health stigma. 

A 2022 study by the American Psychiatric Association found that nearly two out of five Americans rated their mental health as poor or only fair.

Angela Wu, a licensed family and marriage therapist, told The Messenger that this may partially be due to the fact that anxiety and mental health are fairly newly acknowledged issues. Nevertheless, issues such as the COVID-19 pandemic, political tensions and the speed and scope of online culture make for a perfect storm. 

"We live in a social media culture now that gives off the illusion that we are supposed to be so connected, and it feels jarring when we don't feel that level of connectivity,” Wu said in an email. "The fact that we expect to be more connected creates even more feelings of loneliness when our realities don't match these expectations."

Biden isn’t alone in calling out pressing issues with mental health. Earlier this month, Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., introduced legislation that proposed national policies and a federal office to promote social connection and rectify increasing rates of loneliness.