Astronaut psychiatric selection procedures: a Japanese experience.
This paper presents the results of the first application of a structured NASA psychiatric interview for Japanese astronaut selection. We undertook a semi-structured, diagnostic, clinical psychiatric interview with 45 Japanese astronaut applicants for the position of mission specialist-astronaut, and performed "select-out" psychiatric evaluations according to DSM-III-R psychiatric diagnostic criteria. Two applicants (4.4%) who met Axis I or Axis II disorder criteria in DSM-III-R were evaluated as "Disqualified." There were 13 applicants "Qualified with Reservation"; the majority of their diagnoses were "hypomania." Those applicants "Qualified with Reservation" and "Disqualified" were not finally selected to be astronauts. This structured interview was not only useful for "select-out" psychiatric screening of Japanese astronauts, but also made clear the Japanese characteristics of this selection procedure.
Department of Psychiatry, Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
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Endo
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Ohbayashi
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Yumikura
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Sekiguchi
D000328:Adult; D018480:Astronauts / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D010560:Personnel Selection / Q000592:standards; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D013026:Space Flight; D014481:United States; D018557:United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration