When he wasn't crying, he slept.It says that the FAA started allowing pilots with diagnosed depression, in some cases.I've got to find a therapist, he told himself. And he did. Quickly, if that therapist didn't write down depression, Merritt would be okay. He could still fly planes, keep his job, as long as he wasn't diagnosed with a mental illness.
After several sessions, The therapist gently suggested that he might need medication.
Merritt adamantly refused.
The therapist never raised the subject again.
Merritt's husband, also an airline pilot, hoped he would break out of this funk.
Sunday, March 30, 2025
When Airline Pilots Suffer Mental Illness
Today's NY Times podcast is about male homosexual airline pilots who cover up
mental illnesses because they would be considered dangerous:
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1 comment:
I don't think homosexuals should be singled out for mental illness in a given profession. Straight or gay isn't the issue, mental competency is, and a severely mentally ill person should simply not be flying a plane, or driving a city or school bus for that matter. Tragic as it might be for the individual that will lose their job, there are far greater safety concerns at play when many passenger's lives are on the line.
That said, there are significant differences in statistical ratios of mental illness between hetero and homosexual men. To put it mildly, these differences do not favor the gay population.
Just don't throw the baby out with the bath water. Mental illness should be handled case by case, the same way all illness should be treated, there is no 'one size fits' all cure.
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