To Bill H who wrote: Not too long ago a doctor I was seeing informed me that a medication I was taking had been the subject of a study which suggested that it might cause cancer, and wondered why I laughed. I told him that there would undoubtedly be another study next month that would suggest that it caused Altzheimers, and one a month after that which suggested it caused heath attacks and another in yet another month which suggested it caused terminal stupidity. He got my point.

You are spot on! Professors and researchers live off of grants. That is how they buy their beans!

It’s been said (with what degree of accuracy I know not) that practically the only extended period in his adult life when the Italian writer Primo Levi was NOT clinically depressed was when he was in Auschwitz. It’s a truly odd feature of depression that mortal danger very often causes the victim to snap out of it, at least for the duration.

I believe that the relative number of admissions to psychiatric hospitals in the UK prior to and following the outbreak of WWII tell a similar story.

https://youtu.be/0Rnq1NpHdmw

I made several changes to the story on the wise advice of readers — you among them. Typing in a note for each edit would make the whole piece look and sound awkward.

But, I’ll do it here: I initially wrote that the sample size of pilots who took the depression story (it was about 1,400), was “relatively tiny.” Yes, that’s a small fraction of all the airline pilots out there in America (around 70,000). However, when it comes to research protocols, this actually represents a very large sample size.

It would be nice if you noted that you edited the article to remove the remark about the sample size being small.

However, for studies like this one, even though smoke doesn’t necessarily mean fire, you’d be pretty dumb to not go and check it out. That’s really the point of research in general — to say, hey, this is interesting. Maybe we should investigate things further.

Of course, all jobs come with their own stressors. My next course of action, if I ruled the world, would be to study the ones that are endemic to commercial pilots. For example, Patrick made a good point about chronic fatigue. I’m wondering how much that relates not just to the long hours aloft, but to the continual disruption of a pilot’s circadian rhythm. Circadian issues and mood problems go hand in hand.

I’m also thinking about the long-term effect of essentially holding hundreds of persons’ lives in your hands every single work day. Obviously it’s very seldom a part of your conscious awareness, but I wonder how that unconscious knowledge affects the body and mind.

Agreed, pilots are people too.

there will be a percentage of ALL humans that have depression, and yes, suicidal thoughts. It is inevitable, i’m sorry.
That being said, i don’t know if that puts the general public at risk, more than being around those driving cars, or carrying loaded guns.
Mental Health, and illness is a ‘hidden’ issue, that a lot of media and such tend to not deal with very well.

-Drew Carey.