The bosun has always been the first one up. Lately he is late, he is short with the new deckhand, and he has stopped coming to the crew mess for dinner — he takes a plate to his cabin instead. Nothing dramatic has happened. Something has changed, and you can feel it before you can name it.
Look for change, not symptoms
You are not diagnosing anybody, and this lesson gives you no criteria to diagnose with. What you have instead is something a clinician does not have: you know what this person is normally like. The signal is always the same — a sustained change from that person baseline. Quiet is not a warning sign. A loud person who has gone quiet for three weeks might be.
What it can look like day to day
Described as behaviour you would notice across a mess table, not as conditions.
| What you might see | Sometimes goes with |
|---|---|
| Flat, joyless, withdrawn; nothing lands; stops doing things they used to enjoy | Low mood and depression |
| Constant worry, jumpy, restless, seeking reassurance again and again | Anxiety |
| Sudden episodes of overwhelming fear with a racing heart and breathlessness, often frightening and often brief | Panic |
| Cynical, exhausted, going through the motions, snapping at guests or crew, work quality slipping | Burnout |
| Cannot sleep, or sleeps constantly and still exhausted; foggy; late | Sleep problems |
| Skipping meals, secrecy or rigid rules around food, sharp weight change, over-exercising | Disordered eating |
| Drinking more, drinking alone, drinking to switch off, hangovers into work | Alcohol or substance misuse |
| Jumpy, on edge, avoiding a place or a person, sleeping badly after a bad event | Trauma responses |
The pattern behind all of it
Whatever the label, you tend to notice the same four things:
- Withdrawal — from the crew mess, from the group chat, from the run ashore.
- Change in function — timekeeping, standards, concentration, small mistakes from someone who does not make them.
- Change in the physical — sleep, appetite, appearance, energy.
- Change in the emotional weather — irritability, tearfulness, flatness, uncharacteristic outbursts.
Two traps
The tiredness trap. Onboard, every one of these signs has an innocent explanation, and usually it is the right one. Long charter, short sleep, everyone is fraying. That is exactly why things get missed. The question is not "is there an innocent explanation" — there always is. It is "has this gone on, and is this person still themselves?"
The label trap. Do not go hunting for which box someone fits. You do not need to know, and guessing can be actively harmful. You only need to have noticed enough to ask a question.
Onboard Notes
- Watch for a sustained change from that person normal, not a checklist.
- Four broad signals: withdrawal, function, physical, emotional.
- Every sign has an innocent explanation onboard. Ask anyway if it persists.
- Never try to work out the diagnosis. Noticing is the job; the label is not yours to apply.
- Preparatory study only. Not a certificate and not clinical training. Recognise, listen, signpost, escalate - never diagnose, treat or counsel.