Can Workplaces Discriminate Against Depressed Employees?

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What-Kind-of-Professionals-Can-Be-Depressed-RM-722x406The crash of Germanwings Flight 9525 last week has raised questions about who is mentally fit to fly a plane. Obviously, there needs to be some revisions to the present policies abroad in response to the tragedy of 150 lives. I mourn for all the families and send my prayers to them. However, in reading pieces about the new possible regulations to be put in place, I fear the industry will become like the legal sector, where strict procedures to maintain mental-health fitness has discouraged both law students and established attorneys from getting the help they need for a mood disorder.

“In some states, law students who report that they have a mental health condition as part of the character and fitness investigation may be precluded from passing the bar,” Timothy Clement, MPH, Scattergood Fellow on Stigma Reduction, told me today. “In many other states the student will have to furnish his or her treatment records in order to pass. This type of exclusion is based on inaccurate stereotypes and has a chilling effect on law students seeking diagnosis and treatment.”

Have the regulations empowered this group of professionals to seek help? Consider these statistics compiled by the Dave Nee Foundation:

  • Entering law school, law students have a psychological profile similar to that of the general public. After law school, 20-40% have a psychological dysfunction.
  • Lawyers are 3.6 times more likely to suffer from depression than non-lawyers.
  • Lawyers rank 5th in incidence of suicide by occupation.
  • Lawyers are the most frequently depressed occupational group in the US.

“At the Dave Nee Foundation, as we travel across the country visiting law students, we have found a high percentage of the students will not seek help because they fear professional consequences,” says Executive Director Rachael Barrett. “While, character and fitness concerns are real, law school administrators are available to help students through the process and will encourage students to seek help.”

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Therese Borchard
I am a writer and chaplain trying to live a simple life in Annapolis, Maryland.

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3 Responses
  1. Kyle

    As it has clearly become, being a professional pilot who suffer’s chronic depression has everything but completely destroyed the career I always loved. Especially now with the Germanwings debacle. In my past 25 year career, the farthest thing ever from my mind was to ever hurt others. In fact, the one thing that seemed to give me relief from my depression was my flying. Now, with the lack of understanding about depression in common society, my chances of ever returning to the pilot’s seat again are less than ever before. That’s the thought that makes me want to die.

  2. Alexandrin Desilets

    Yes, it can be discriminating. If you are living with somebody who has depression, you know that it can be hard. Everything seems to be going good for them, yet for reasons unknown they are down which is disappointing. The other employees should help their mates to come out of their problem. They can take them to some professional counselors or can also let them talk to a professional psychic like Voyante Sérieuse at http://www.martine-voyance.com/tarifs. The psychic can help the depressed come out of their problem and will also tell them the real reason behind their depression.