A recent survey of airline pilots in France turned up high rates of self-described anxiety, depression, and alcohol misuse.
Researchers recruited 1,220 airline pilots from the French pilots union SNPL and had them fill out a questionnaire focusing on their mental health and well-being. The results, published in Frontiers in Public Health in May, showed more than one-third of the pilots (40 percent) misused alcohol in the last year, though less than 1 percent described themselves as dependent.
About 25 percent suffered from anxiety, with 11 percent having a confirmed clinical diagnosis, while 13 percent described depressive symptoms, with 4 percent reporting a confirmed diagnosis.
Most of the pilots surveyed (90 percent) were male, and their average age was 45.
About 8 percent of the respondents said they took medication to treat insomnia. Almost 10 percent said they had a psychiatric history of some kind. Just under 3 percent reported suicidal thoughts in the last year.
Only a small number of the pilots (0.8 percent) said they used cannabis.
The researchers found that socioeconomic stress and requirements to fly multiple trips in the same day seemed to increase pilots’ risk for anxiety. They also found that respondents who described themselves as depressed were most likely to misuse alcohol.
About 14 percent of the pilots said they had sought psychological help, while 12 percent reported feeling isolated in dealing with their problems. Around 28 percent said they did not want to report psychological problems to their employer or governing agency out of fear of losing their license. But 54 percent said they would report symptoms if a rule ensured that it would not affect their career.
The researchers said their study underscores the need for preventative mental health programs for pilots and ways for them to address their psychological problems without fear of immediately losing their jobs.
