My question is, and this is a legit question: Why are people not allowed to fly on anti-depressants? What is the concern here? I'm assuming it's worry about a side effect, but I don't know enough to know for sure.

But I am in agreement with you. Everyone gets anxious or depressed sometimes. Everyone. Most of us don't admit it for...well...similar but less dramatic reasons.

Perhaps we need more specific evaluations that can determine whether somebody is safe to fly at that time. Absolutely, sometimes somebody isn't, just as I know people in the gun community who have taken their friend's guns away until they are over a depressive episode.

And perhaps we need to do more research. I had no idea the rules were so tight that they cared about things which happened years ago. Apart from anything else, this would make it near impossible for the vast majority of trans people to qualify as pilots (gender dysphoria is typically accompanied by anxiety and depression). It makes it harder for anyone who experiences bigotry in their daily life to qualify because, yup, that can cause anxiety and depression too.

The rules need to be updated and made more nuanced so we're grounding actual threats but...well...don't we have a pilot shortage right now?