Depression suggested as "reason" German co-pilot crashed airliner
A few hours ago (http://devifemme.livejournal.com/1708274.html), I posted one of my periodic recaps of my experience with depression. (I've done so here for years: each time I've received ample positive feedback, since it is one of the more common ailments -- and yet people resist treating it and/or can't believe the ultra-predictable drugs are as effective as I know them to be. Slam-dunk, folks!)
Now, in tonight's TV news, it is reported that the co-pilot of that German jetliner -- who, it appears from the recovered flight-data recorder, had locked the pilot out of the cockpit and deliberately flew the plane into the ground -- had "concealed" a medical condition from the Lufthansa doctors who cleared him to fly. There was careful mention of "depression" as a possibility, and guarded speculation that, yes, some pilots were allowed to fly when taking Zoloft and other anti-depressives in a treatment regimen.
It's by no means impossible that the guy (who reportedly LOVED flying, including gliders, his flying club, etc.) irrationally feared his brief flying career was at an end. So he hid the symptoms -- and, evidently, "tore up" some private doctors' orders not to work. And something -- possibly his "perceived need" to hide the problem -- pushed him over some deeply hidden edge.
But that hypothetical result is NOT the profile of clinical depression suffered by many millions of souls (including me). What happened wasn't necessarily related to that ailment at all; rather, he could have undergone what's called a "psychotic break" -- which is not, as I understand it, linked to depression. BUT it's going to make for some noisy and public discussion -- and the media are likely to distort aspects of the whole issue.
Now, in tonight's TV news, it is reported that the co-pilot of that German jetliner -- who, it appears from the recovered flight-data recorder, had locked the pilot out of the cockpit and deliberately flew the plane into the ground -- had "concealed" a medical condition from the Lufthansa doctors who cleared him to fly. There was careful mention of "depression" as a possibility, and guarded speculation that, yes, some pilots were allowed to fly when taking Zoloft and other anti-depressives in a treatment regimen.
It's by no means impossible that the guy (who reportedly LOVED flying, including gliders, his flying club, etc.) irrationally feared his brief flying career was at an end. So he hid the symptoms -- and, evidently, "tore up" some private doctors' orders not to work. And something -- possibly his "perceived need" to hide the problem -- pushed him over some deeply hidden edge.
But that hypothetical result is NOT the profile of clinical depression suffered by many millions of souls (including me). What happened wasn't necessarily related to that ailment at all; rather, he could have undergone what's called a "psychotic break" -- which is not, as I understand it, linked to depression. BUT it's going to make for some noisy and public discussion -- and the media are likely to distort aspects of the whole issue.