At Harvard University, they found out that hundreds of civil aviation pilots are so depressed that they constantly think about suicide or self-mutilation. This is reported in the journal Environmental Health .
The idea to conduct an anonymous survey of pilots came from scientists after the 2015 disaster, when German Andreas Lubitz committed suicide by sending a plane with 149 passengers on board to a rock.
Approximately 4.1% of those surveyed admitted that over the past two weeks they have experienced a strong urge to commit suicide or a desire to self-harm. If the sample constructed by scientists accurately reflects the scope of the problem, then about 5,700 people out of the total number of civil aviation pilots in the world (140,000) experience such feelings.
Scientists sent out questionnaires to pilots from all over the world on condition of complete anonymity. One of the groups of questions was devoted to the mental health of the respondents. In total, 1848 people answered these questions, 233 of whom declared their depression, and 75 – about a strong desire to commit suicide.
Scientists emphasize that pilots do not tell anyone about their problems and do not seek medical help, as they fear dismissal.