The FAA has made a series of updates to its Antidepressant Protocol, including reducing the required stabilization period for pilots and air traffic controllers last week from six months to three. The revision was released Dec. 3 as part of the FAA’s Guide for Aviation Medical Examiners and accompanies broader updates to how antidepressant use is assessed during aeromedical certification.
Those changes in recent months include an expanded list of conditionally acceptable medications, moving beyond SSRIs to incorporate several SNRIs—duloxetine, venlafaxine and desvenlafaxine—along with bupropion and vilazodone. FAA officials have said in recent years that it would make mental health revisions as part of a wider initiative to ensure pilots and controllers have clearer, more efficient pathways for evaluation under the Pilot Mental Fitness framework.
The FAA’s updates to its mental-health policies are influenced by recommendations from the Mental Health and Aviation Medical Clearances Aviation Rulemaking Committee. That committee was established in late 2023 and released a final report in 2024 that outlined steps intended to improve access to care while reducing barriers to disclosure.
Industry groups, including the National Air Transportation Association, have participated in the process and remain involved in implementation discussions tied to mental-health provisions in the 2024 FAA Reauthorization Act.
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