Originally Posted by
thepotato232
Really liked the article. The author certainly makes no claim that airline workers are the only people who deal with workplace stress; She points out some of the unique stressors that airline crews deal with and (more importantly) the cultural and legal hurdles that they deal with in seeking any sort of psychological treatment. Given her background (former Clipper stewardess turned psychotherapist), I'd say she's plenty qualified to make some of these statements.
Frankly, with the disastrous erosion in quality of life so many airline workers in the US have undergone in the past decade or so coupled with the stresses of working in the modern airline environment, I'd expect these sorts of things to happen more often. I think the most important point the author made was:
I personally would much rather put my life in the hands of a pilot who has received proper psychological treatment than one who suffers silently but has a "clean" record.
The above has become almost common sense as attitudes regarding psychological treatment have evolved over the years, but it'd still be a pretty revolutionary idea for the aviation world.
I've heard stories of guys seeking help in other countries just to avoid the issues that might be raised here State-side. There's something wrong with the system when people have to go to those extremes to get the help they need.