What causes depression?

Depression can occur in many different ways.

• It can develop suddenly without obvious warning or cause
• It can be triggered by psychological trauma and/or stress

Genetic disposition

In some families, many family members develop depression. If your parent, child or siblings have or have had depression, there is a greater risk that you, too, will develop depression.

Gender

It is a traditional view that twice as many women develop depression as men. But in recent years, studies have emerged which suggest that as many men suffer from depression as women.

Depression tends to be expressed differently in men – rather than become overtly sad they may become agitated, angry, possibly even aggressive and violent, impulsive and may abuse alcohol.  Many men don't realise that they are suffering from depression so don't go to see their doctor about it.  Men may be more reluctant to seek professional help due to thre stigma associated with the illness.  Similarly a doctor may overlook depression symptoms in men and misdiagnose them.

Age

One can develop depression at any age but the risk increases slightly for women between the ages of 40 and 50. Furthermore, the risk of developing more than one depressive episode increases with age.

Unemployment

A high percentage of people with depression are unemployed.   We don't know whether this is caused by the fact that they become depressed because they are unemployed or whether they become unemployed because they are depressed.

Psychological trauma

Some people who have experienced psychological strain or trauma react by developing depression.  Others develop anxiety disorders or alcohol abuse. But some people are lucky enough to manage without any psychological after-effects.

Your reaction to psychological trauma will depend to a large degree on your genetic disposition and your personality. But there are actually surprisingly few events that we can link to the development of depression.

Read more about depression