It's natural when something terrible happens to want to find the reason why, which is happening with the recent airplane crash apparently caused by the co-pilot's deliberate actions. The media have been pointing the finger at his problems with depression.
Unfortunately, this is likely to make some members of the public assume that people who suffer from depression cannot be trusted with positions of responsibility. It adds to the stigma that already exists.
This isn't an abstract point for me; I've been suffering from depression since I was a child. At times I've taken medication for it. I've never felt like hurting anybody as a result, nor is that a symptom of the condition for others.
Maybe I'm underestimating the intelligence of the people who read these news stories; maybe they will be aware that isolating the man's depression as the cause is no more logical than assuming that those with an eye problem (which he apparently also had, and which may have threatened to end his career) are dangerous.
What is clear is that he was mentally ill. That would be true of anybody who is willing to kill 150 others while ending his own life. Depression may well have been one component of that mental illness, but it was not the primary cause of his horrific actions, and I hope (but don't expect) that the media will give a bit more thought in future to the impact of their rush to judgment.
