Depression; It is a mood disorder in which the person experiences intense feelings of sadness and depression, which seriously affects their daily functioning. We may all feel unhappy or helpless in the face of certain events from time to time. These emotions are part of our lives, but we do not feel sad, hopeless all the time, or these emotions do not affect our daily routines for a long time. Therefore, unhappy and hopeless affect, which is only one of the diagnostic criteria for depression, does not by itself indicate that the person is depressed. When diagnosing depression, long-term symptoms are evaluated. The symptoms of depression may vary from person to person, for example, it may cause significant weight loss in one person and significant weight gain in another. So what are the symptoms of depression?
- Insomnia or excessive sleep
- Increasing fatigue and loss of energy day by day
- Feeling hopeless
- Restlessness
- Feeling of worthlessness, low self-esteem
- Suicidal thoughts
- Decrease in social relationships
- Resistance to activities in which he/she was previously interested. gradual decrease in interest
- Change in appetite (significant weight loss or gain)
- Desensitization to what is happening around them
- Decrease in physical and mental performance
- Not wanting to go to work or having physical or mental difficulties while going to work
Depression has many causes such as early childhood traumas, genetic transmission, chronic diseases, substance use, alcohol consumption, and financial problems. In addition to individual problems, there are many common reasons that increase flyers' susceptibility to depression. So, what are the factors that may cause depression in cabin crew and pilots?
- Insufficient rest periods for pilots due to busy flight schedules
- Insomnia, lack of night sleep due to frequent night flights
- Exposure to constant stress due to passenger problems on flights or problems within the crew
- Lack of nutrition due to irregular flights
- Weakness of the immune system
- The burden of responsibility taken by pilots due to their profession
- Responsibility of flight safety
- Bringing on the concern of job loss stress
We can list these and many other factors here. In addition to the change in mood, a flightier who is depressed may not want to go on a flight or may have difficulty, there may be problems or disruptions in communication within the team, they may have difficulty in fulfilling their duties when the fatigue caused by depression is added to the existing physical fatigue due to the effect of flight intensity and pressure, and this may be reflected as a workload on their teammates. At the same time, having difficulty in communicating, fulfilling duties and responsibilities, and at the same time, at any time when it is necessary to be constantly alert and alert in the face of any emergency situation that may occur, it can risk flight safety due to the weakening of perceptions, which is another problem that depression can cause, and the inability to control anger and Decreased judgment skills may cause serious problems in the cockpit, and disruptions in communication with passengers due to decreased social skills may affect problem-solving skills and passenger satisfaction. Depression becomes a serious risk factor for them because they are doing a job that is not easy and they also have restrictions on medication use. Flyers may have to take unpaid leave and take a break from flying during the treatment of psychiatric disorders, which causes them to enter a more troublesome period.
So, what could be the solutions?
First of all, extending the duration of their stay, When planning the duration, plans should be made taking into account not only the fact that the flyers sleep for a minimum of 8 hours, but also that they do not disconnect from social life. Night flights should be distributed equitably and the circadian rhythm factor should be evaluated when making flight plans. Human factors should be taken into consideration when making flight plans. Solution plans for flight attendants' immune systems, sleep problems and many psychological factors should be worked out and support should be provided by company physicians, and flyers who want to consult company physicians on these issues should not have the fear of job loss.
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