This morning's papers are a sheer delight for anyone who's suffered from depression. 

Following the tragedy of the Flight 9525 disaster, details have emerged which suggest the plane's co-pilot crashed the plane deliberately, killing 150 people, including himself. It's also been claimed he suffered from depression.

"MADMAN IN COCKPIT" The Sun helpfully trumpets. "WHY ON EARTH WAS HE ALLOWED TO FLY?" asks the Daily Mail, apparently unaware of the existence of laws such as the 2010 Equality Act

Depression doesn't make you violent, or mean, or dangerous. It doesn't make you capable of doing things you wouldn't otherwise be capable of doing. And it certainly doesn't make you likely to take a plane full of people and crash it into a mountain. 

Depression coverage of Germanwings pilotpinterest

The mental health charity Mind is keen to emphasise that assuming anyone who's depressed is a danger to others is...Well, a bit unhelpful. 

"While the full facts are still emerging, there has been widespread media reporting speculating about the link with the pilot's history of depression, which has been overly simplistic," they point out. 

"Clearly, assessment of all pilots' physical and mental health is entirely appropriate - but assumptions about risk shouldn't be made across the board for people with depression, or any other illness. 

"There will be pilots with experience of depression who have flown safely for decades,  and assessments should be made on a case-by-case basis."

In my experience, the case-by-case point is extremely important, even if you don't run an airline. 

In 2013 I became depressed myself. It took over a year, some counselling, and lots of medication not to feel absolutely terrible anymore. But in all that time, I was surprised to find I didn't have the urge - not once! - to hit people or take thousands of pounds of their money or call them a c*** on Twitter.

I was very annoying, yes. And incredibly boring, losing a few friends who couldn't cope with my endless 'WHYYYYYYYYY?'-ing in the process. But, generally, I tended to keep myself to myself and hope it would all go away.

Depression doesn't, across the board, make you violent, or mean, or dangerous

It made me understand something very important - something this morning's papers are ignoring in order to sell more copies, making the lives of people with depression much worse in the process.

Depression doesn't, across the board, make you violent, or mean, or dangerous. It doesn't make every sufferer capable of doing things they wouldn't otherwise be capable of doing. And it certainly doesn't mean that if a sufferer's job is to fly a plane, everyone should be constantly on their guard in case they decide to crash it.

I can't say what was going on in that pilot's mind when he crashed his plane. But one in four people will suffer from a mental health problem in any given year, and I can guarantee they're not all ticking time bombs, just waiting to explode in a shower of mad at any moment. 

 If you give someone your money or your heart or a job and they turn out to be totally, utterly the wrong person to trust, it's a terrible thing. But labelling all people with depression as untrustworthy is a terrible thing, too.

Help, understanding, and sympathy are much more useful than suspicion and fear. But today's headlines condemn a quarter of the population to being treated like they're a bit weird. 

Well, those who'll actually admit to being depressed in the first place, anyway. Because many of them don't – they're too ashamed. 

I wonder why that is?

Germanwings pilot given 'depression' coverage in the presspinterest

If you're frustrated with the conversations about mental health in the UK, use your voice to make a change: VOTE. See how easy it is to register here, and start fighting for the change we need.

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Rosie Mullender
Content Director
I’m the gonk-collecting, cheese-nibbling, novel-writing, burrito-blogging, mag-reading, Twitter-loving, gym-going, gin-drinking, pasta-making, puppy-stalking, man-chasing, fast-knitting, fruit-and-veg-shunning Features Editor of Cosmo. Prick me, and I bleed pizza. I love my job and can argue for hours about why Cosmo is the best magazine in the world.