PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Depression/Stress -- Don't talk about it to your doctor or a psychiatrist.
Old 19th Jul 2008, 01:06
  #6 (permalink)  
RatherBeFlying
 
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: Toronto
Posts: 2,560
Received 40 Likes on 19 Posts
If you're feeling stressed out enough that you don't think you should be flying, taking a couple or weeks or months off to get over a family breakup or other affliction will not result in a psychiatric diagnosis on your medical record -- and spare you jumping through the bureaucratic hoops when you get over it and are ready to fly again.

You can't get on SSRI's without seeing a physician, but in Canada or the USA your medical is suspended until treatment is completed.

By contrast Australia has a protocol that allows a return to flying while taking certain SSRIs as noted in the link in my first post and has been doing so successfully over the last ten years.

The practical difference between Australia and North America is that stressed out pilots in North America have a major incentive to avoid treatment to keep their medicals "clean".
RatherBeFlying is offline