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.