🧠Mental Health & Your FAA Medical
Honest conversations about mental health, medications, or past drug use shouldn't cost you your career. This guide breaks down how FAA oversight works for pilots disclosing anxiety, depression, trauma, therapy, SSRI use—or even one-time drug experimentation or suspicion without diagnosis.
🚨 FAA Psychiatric Monitoring Triggers
- Past or current therapy or counseling
- Experimental or past drug use (legal or illegal)
- Suspicion without clinical diagnosis
- SSRI prescriptions (even short-term use)
- PTSD, ADHD, anxiety, depression, bipolar history
- Voluntary disclosures on MedXPress or AME discussions
đź’Š FAA Policy on SSRIs
The FAA permits only four SSRIs—Celexa, Lexapro, Prozac, and Zoloft—under a special protocol. Even if compliant, pilots are often placed into HIMS-style monitoring.
⚠️ Risks of Disclosure
Many pilots have been grounded after a single therapy session or a brief prescription. Without impairment, diagnosis, or recurrence, oversight may still be applied indefinitely.
đź“Ž What You Can Do
- Document all care and communications carefully
- Consult with an AME before disclosing anything
- File FOIA requests and seek a second opinion if flagged
- Join P4HR and share your story anonymously