Increased risk
There is no simple answer to the reason why you get hit by depression.
We know what causes influenza. We can identify the virus. But we don't know exactly what causes depression. However, we do know that depression occurs as an interaction between a hereditary vulnerability, which is congenital, and influences during adolescence.
Genetic disposition
In some families many family members develop depression. If your parent, child or siblings have had several depressions, there is unfortunately a 20% risk of you yourself developing one or more depressive episodes.
Sex
It is a traditional view that twice as many women develop depression as men. But in recent years, ideas have emerged which suggest that in fact as many men suffer from depression as women.
Depression just shows up differently in men. Perhaps many men therefore don't discover that they are suffering from depression and hence don't go to see their doctor. Similarly a doctor can also more easily overlook depression in men. This produces low percentages in the surveys. Read more about symptoms in men with depression.
Age
You 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. Read more about depression in the elderly.
Social status
The connection between social status and depression is not completely clear. But there seems to be an increased risk of people with a low social status developing depression.
Unemployment
People with depression are unemployed more frequently than others. But we don't know whether this is caused by the fact that you become depressed because you are unemployed or whether you become unemployed because you are depressed.
Psychological trauma
Some people who have experienced psychological strain or trauma react by developing depression. Others develop anxiety 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 which we can link to the development of depression.
However, it does appear that people who have been sexually abused in their childhood have an increased risk of developing depression. Furthermore, if you develop depression after severe psychological strain, you are at risk of lesser psychological strain triggering depressions later on.
Divorce
We don't know whether divorce directly increases the risk of developing depression. It is a fact that people with depression are more frequently divorced than others but we don't know whether people become depressed because of the divorce or whether they become divorced because of the depression.
Bereavement
The death of people close to you seems to increase the risk of developing depression.
Illness
A physical disease increases the risk of developing depression. Nearly all kinds of diseases can lead to depression. This applies both to less serious diseases like influenza or more serious diseases like cerebral thrombosis or cancer. Read more about depression in connection with a physical disease.
Pregnancy and child birth
During pregnancy and the weeks and months before the birth, the risk of developing depression is increased. When you have just given birth, both your body and mind need to get used to a completely new situation. Your hormones need to readjust, and you need to look after your newborn child. This is a period of many changing feelings, and approximately one in ten women develops depression after the birth. But with support from those closest to you and from professionals, and in some cases together with medicine, you can usually avoid developing a deep postnatal depression. Read more about postnatal depression.
Stress and depression
Prolonged stress increases the risk of developing depression. Stress is often triggered by situations, where more is demanded of you than you feel you can live up to. Many unfinished or insurmountable tasks can often trigger stress. Stress is a condition where you feel irritable, tired, in low spirits, insecure and possibly have difficulty sleeping. You may often experience a series of physical symptoms as well such as stomach problems, headache or muscular tension. If this stress condition continues over a lengthy period, it increases the risk of developing depression.