Depressive Symptoms, Suicidal Thoughts Common Among Active Airline Pilots, Study Finds

If one is scared of flying great heights in airplanes, the fear could worsen once this article is read. As much as 13.5 percent of the nation's active commercial airline pilots may be suffering from depression, a new research found.

A team of researchers conducted an anonymous, web-based survey from April to December 2015 on nearly 3,500 active and commercial airline pilots. Out of this number, only 1,848 were willing to answer mental health questions.

They found that hundreds of these pilots may be clinically depressed. What is worse is, many of them may not seek medical help due to fears of stigma and career consequences, CNN reports.

Prompted by the March 2015 murder-suicide crash of a Germanwings plane carrying 150 passengers, the authors wanted to determine how many of the pilots are suffering from depressive symptoms, including suicidal thoughts.

"The Germanwings Flight 9525 crash has brought the sensitive subject of airline pilot mental health to the forefront in aviation," the researchers said in their study published in the journal Environmental Health.

"This is the first study to describe airline pilot mental health-with a focus on depression and suicidal thoughts-outside of the information derived from aircraft accident investigations, regulated health examinations, or identifiable self-reports, which are records protected by civil aviation authorities and airline companies," they added.

The researchers found that 233 pilots or 12.6 percent met the criteria for clinical depression and 75 or 4 percent reported having suicidal thoughts within the past two weeks. Moreover, out of the 1,430 pilots that flew a plane in the last week, 193 or 13.5 percent met the criteria for depression.

According to ars Technica, the pilots' responses are not surprising. In fact, 21 percent of Americans suffer from a mood disorder at some point in their lives. Pilots, who work in stressful environments, work long shifts and high-pressure workplace, are at an increased risk of developing mental health problems.

However, the researchers said that although the pilots are predisposed to have mental health problems, the airlines should also do their part to curb these problems.

"We recommend airline organizations increase support for preventative mental health treatment. Future research will evaluate additional risk factors of depression such as sleep and circadian rhythm disturbances," the researchers concluded.