Psychological Stress and Mental Health Among Seafarers

Objective: This work aims to determine whether the mental health of seafarers is a significant problem, by providing actual epidemiological information, to identify the factors that are supporting or undermining the mental health of seafarers and to propose solutions and practices aimed at improving the health of this class of workers. Methods: This study is an epidemiological investigation of mental and behavioral disorders among seafarers onboard commercial ships without a physician. The aim is to propose solutions to improve the quality of life in this difficult working environment. We examined 38.477 requests of assistance from patients embarked on ships assisted by the CIRM from 2011 to 2019. All the diagnosed diseases have been categorized based on the ICD-10 classification system by the WHO. Results: From 2012 to 2020, 376 cases of “mental and behavioral disorders” were officially diagnosed. The most common form of mental disorder was anxious syndrome (119 cases), followed by depressive disorder (103 cases), insomnia (51 cases), panic attacks (35 cases), etc. Over the 9 years analyzed, a total of 37 suicide and 4 attempted suicide cases occurred. The number of mental and behavioral disorders diagnosed on board—as well as the number of suicides—shows that the seafarers’ mental problems are a concrete and serious issue.