Health & Medicine
Airline Pilots Have Higher Depression, Suicidal Thoughts, Study Reveals
Elaine Hannah
First Posted: Dec 19, 2016 03:11 AM EST
A study reveals that one out of eight commercial airline pilots may be suffering from untreated depression. About 4 percent of pilots is reported having suicidal thoughts within the past two weeks.
The findings of the study were published in Environmental Health. This study was conducted after the March 2015 murder-suicide crash by a pilot of the European airline Germanwings. It was led by researchers from Harvard Chan School.
Joseph Allen, one of the authors of the study and an assistant professor of exposure assessment science, said that they found that many pilots currently flying are managing depressive symptoms and it may be that they are not seeking treatment due to the fear of negative career impacts. In the anonymous survey, it showed that 1,850 pilots from over 50 countries discovered that 14 percent of pilots who had worked within the past week had symptoms of depression, according to AOL.
In the study, the researchers discovered that pilots who had depression were victims of sexual or verbal harassment. About 36.4 percent of them experienced harassment four or more times in the past week and 42.9 percent of them experienced verbal harassment. Those pilots who used higher levels of sleep aid medication also experienced depression, according to CNN.
Allen said that it is understandable that pilots are reluctant to fully disclose mental health issues because of the potential that they will be grounded or declared not fit for duty. Nevertheless, he further said that with roughly 140,000 active pilots flying over 3 billion people worldwide each year, the survey results should put the airline industry on notice that many pilots need better access to mental health screening and treatment.
It is reported that about 350 million people suffer from depression. On the other hand, many people do not get any treatment because of stigma. Dr. Andrew F. Leuchter, a professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at UCLA Brain Research Institute, said that thought of suicide is common among depressed people. They are concerned about when patients tell them that they are thinking about suicide, but fortunately, most patients do not act on these thoughts.
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Tagsairline pilots, Depression, suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Germanwings, sexual harrassment, verbal harrassment ©2024 ScienceWorldReport.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. The window to the world of science news.
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First Posted: Dec 19, 2016 03:11 AM EST
A study reveals that one out of eight commercial airline pilots may be suffering from untreated depression. About 4 percent of pilots is reported having suicidal thoughts within the past two weeks.
The findings of the study were published in Environmental Health. This study was conducted after the March 2015 murder-suicide crash by a pilot of the European airline Germanwings. It was led by researchers from Harvard Chan School.
Joseph Allen, one of the authors of the study and an assistant professor of exposure assessment science, said that they found that many pilots currently flying are managing depressive symptoms and it may be that they are not seeking treatment due to the fear of negative career impacts. In the anonymous survey, it showed that 1,850 pilots from over 50 countries discovered that 14 percent of pilots who had worked within the past week had symptoms of depression, according to AOL.
In the study, the researchers discovered that pilots who had depression were victims of sexual or verbal harassment. About 36.4 percent of them experienced harassment four or more times in the past week and 42.9 percent of them experienced verbal harassment. Those pilots who used higher levels of sleep aid medication also experienced depression, according to CNN.
Allen said that it is understandable that pilots are reluctant to fully disclose mental health issues because of the potential that they will be grounded or declared not fit for duty. Nevertheless, he further said that with roughly 140,000 active pilots flying over 3 billion people worldwide each year, the survey results should put the airline industry on notice that many pilots need better access to mental health screening and treatment.
It is reported that about 350 million people suffer from depression. On the other hand, many people do not get any treatment because of stigma. Dr. Andrew F. Leuchter, a professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at UCLA Brain Research Institute, said that thought of suicide is common among depressed people. They are concerned about when patients tell them that they are thinking about suicide, but fortunately, most patients do not act on these thoughts.
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone