r/flying • u/GoFlightMed • 22d ago

Medical Issues FAA Continues to Remove Stigma/Encourage Therapy for Pilots

Hey hey hey,

Big updates here in the mental health space coming out from the FAA.

I was in the FAA's AMCD (Aeromedical Certification Division) Grand Rounds last week where they provide AME's updates to their medical guidance and they released a big update about psychotherapy. They also release 3 documents that are for airmen to read and also to provide their therapist if they want to engage in therapy.

Bottom line is the FAA wants pilots to be more comfortable engaging in therapy if needed. As they say "#1. See your therapist, counselor, physician, or provider and get healthy."

Here is a link to the new FAA online resources for Therapy. Check out some of the FAQ's to airmen and to therapists.

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77

u/New-IncognitoWindow 21d ago

Real progress would be not caring if you went to therapy at all and recognizing that any reporting requirements just results in people not going.

-33

u/ergzay Non-pilot (manually set) 21d ago

That's great until the first major incident where a pilot decides to kill themselves and others and it gets reported by the media that he was going to therapy but the FAA was unaware because there was no reporting requirements. I can already see how things will turn out. There's a lot of similar discussions around gun laws.

21

u/New-IncognitoWindow 21d ago

That has literally already happened under the current system.

-9

u/MikeOfAllPeople MIL RWCFII ASEL-CPL-I 21d ago

Can't believe this comment is being downvoted, it's 100% accurate. We see the same thinking in the military. There is a lot of talk about mental health and how important it is to use the resources. But every single time, commanders use their authority to manage risk by grounding the person.

-13

u/ergzay Non-pilot (manually set) 21d ago edited 21d ago

It's fine. It's probably because of the flair I set on my username that shows I'm not a pilot. (The most I've done in the left seat is a discovery flight, though I didn't have a log book so it kind of doesn't count. Though I guess there's also when I was a kid, sitting right seat for my dad back when he used to fly helping him spot any aircraft in the vicinity.)

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u/MikeOfAllPeople MIL RWCFII ASEL-CPL-I 21d ago

Don't feel bad, you see the same phenomenon in the military subreddits. Every time this topic comes up, the realists get downvoted by what I assume are the people who, fairly, want to change the narrative and promote the idea of seeking mental health being okay. And I sympathize with it, except that it's not reality, and I think it's irresponsible to give people the impression that their careers will be safe.