title: Compulsive personality traits affecting aeronautical adaptability in a naval aviator: a case report.
abstract: This is a case report of a male naval aviator who demonstrated compulsive personality traits which adversely affected the performance of his duties as a pilot trainee, and later, as a naval flight officer. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association (DSM-III-R) uses the term obsessive-compulsive to describe two conditions. A review of terminology is undertaken to present the reader with the distinguishing features of the personality disorder versus the anxiety disorder. The anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, is incompatible with safe performance of aviation duties. Obsessive-compulsive personality, on the other hand, describes a point on a continuum where useful, adaptive compulsive traits may become abnormally exaggerated and maladaptive, thus interfering with the aviator's normal routine, occupational functioning, relationships with others, and aviation safety.
authors.affiliation: Naval Aerospace Medical Institute, Naval Air Station, Pensacola, FL 32508-5600.
authors.forename: F H
authors.initials: FH
authors.lastname: Jenkins
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Baggett
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D000337:Aerospace Medicine; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008889:Military Personnel; D009326:Naval Medicine; D009771:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D014481:United States