Originally Posted by
Jerald Block MD
The current system that relies on a heavy stick and false promises is failing. When you observe that pilots are 40-times less likely to get antidepressant than the rest of the US public, you know there are epidemic levels of undertreated illness. The FAA has a problem -- hell, even the Agency acknowledges it has a problem -- but doubling down on enforcement is not solving anything.
I don't know that the 40x statisic is valid at face value.
This has come up in regard to retirement age as well, people toss out demographic stats based on the population as a whole.
But we (pilots) are not representative of the population as a whole... we are older, educated, and affluent. We're traditionally athletic and have a lot of initiative, ie tend to control our own destinies. We also have more lifestyle flexibility than white collar professionals in general. Those factors might imply fewer externally-induced pressures that might push someone into the yellow or red zone. For me personally it's far easier to stay well in the green with this career relative to previous mil and white collar jobs.
Flip side of that is time away from home and lifestyle constraints while traveling might tend to push us in the wrong direction.
With all that said, it is clear that pilots are less likely to seek therapy for relatively minor anxiety/depression. But in the US it doesn't seem to be a looming catastrophe. One recent incident doesn't make a trend and mental health wasn't directly causal in that one, it was illicit substance abuse (although it did get some publicity for the issue).
The notable incident in Europe was probably not applicable to us... that pilot was documented certifiable but their privacy laws prevented the info from getting to airline regulators and employers.
Originally Posted by
Jerald Block MD
The question is what you knew, or should have known. The FAA advises consulting an AME if you are unsure. I'll look in the blog to correct this item.
Lot of wiggle room on "knew, or should have known". If your femur is in a cast, or you had triple bypass last Monday then yeah you should have known.
But if it's just between you, yourself, and the fence post there's some legal grey area. Likely not ethical grey area, but legally you're getting into thought crimes without documented objective medical signs.
Also there's some plausible deniability... if you're "down in the dumps" but didn't see a healthcare provider, pilots are not held to the standard of being expected to properly diagnose every symptom and sign.