From the ATSB report:
The CASA approach is in line with that recommended by the Aerospace Medical Association (AsMA). For example, a 2004 AsMA position paper on Aeromedical Regulation of Aviators Using Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors for Depressive Disorders proposes that an aeromedical protocol be adopted by aviation certificatory and regulatory authorities to remove absolute prohibitions against pilots flying while taking SSRIs. The reasons that AsMA gave for this proposal included evidence that:
• professional pilots may refuse SSRI medication and continue to fly without undergoing treatment appropriate for their medical condition in order to avoid being grounded
• a significant number of US professional pilots take SSRI medication while continuing to fly without informing the US Federal Aviation Administration
• the use of SSRIs has little or no detrimental effect in automobile, bus, and truck drivers.
In 2005, CASA undertook a retrospective case-control study in order to evaluate the safety of the policy of certifying aircrew and air traffic controllers based on meeting set criteria while using antidepressants. The study matched data collected by CASA medical staff from 1993 to 2004 with de-identified data for aviation accidents and incidents collected by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau for the same period.
The report of the validation study, Antidepressant usage and civilian aviation activity in Australia 1993-2004: An assessment of policy for the management of aircrew and air traffic controllers taking antidepressant medication, was released by CASA in September 2005. The report concluded that current CASA policy was appropriate and that there were no safety concerns relating to the practice.
(
Bold emphasis added)
http://www.atsb.gov.au/publications/...503921_001.pdf
If I might advance a theory – one suspects that the ATSB is wary of the following scenario:
pilot feeling a bit down, goes to the doc and has a chat; doc then says “here, take these pills” – pilot says “thanks but no thanks, that’ll get me grounded, and under doctor-patient privilege you’re not to say anything about this to anyone”. Pilot then gets behind the wheel and decides some time later that it’s all of no use and it’s time to end it all; just happens to have a few hundred souls strapped in behind him/her at the time. Or, they blank out somehow = similar outcome.
Instead, the idea is to get them to come forward, have the condition known about, monitored and managed. Hence less risk of a downward spiral (figurative and literal). This guy did just that.
IMHO,
VAPilot is simply stating modern medical practice (no, I’m not a doc, but have several good friends who are who tell me this) – don’t just manage the symptoms, manage the disease – ie. the causes. For example, if a smoker has a hacking cough, that can be masked by various preparations; but a better long-term outcome might be achieved by the patient stopping smoking…