17 Potential Causes Of Depression

While it may be difficult to pinpoint the precise cause of any one person’s depression, there are many possible reasons why you might be depressed.

This guide details some of the more likely causes, but remember that it could be a combination of some of these, or it may be something entirely specific to your situation that is not listed here.

For example, I spent five to ten years being depressed, and I knew exactly what had triggered it. And although those years were a living hell for me, I consider myself fortunate that I did know the cause – because it meant I knew exactly what problem I had to solve to feel mentally well again.

But I acknowledge that most people are probably not in this situation, so this guide will hopefully either let you backtrack to what caused your depression, or allow you to change your life to eliminate as many of these potential triggers as possible.

It’s also worth noting that many of the potential causes detailed below can also lead to other mental health issues, such as anxiety.

Being A People-Pleaser

It’s human nature to want to be liked, but it can become self-destructive.

I hope you have learned by now that it’s impossible to please everybody, so ask yourself why you are trying to please somebody else.

And be honest – is it because you have a genuine reason to do something for them because they mean a lot to you, or are you merely seeking external validation?

If it’s the latter, that’s OK (to a degree) – very few people are happy with rejection or not feeling valued.

But you have to accept that if you try to please everybody all of the time, you will not only fail, but you will be taken advantage of.

This will, at some stage, leave you feeling hurt and used, and from there, it’s but a short step to depression.

I’ve been afraid of confrontation almost my entire life, so I know how hard it is to say “no” to people – but it’s a skill you must learn, for your own well-being. And remember, you do not need to justify a “no” to anybody.

Circadian Rhythm Changes

This is usually referred to as Seasonal Affective Disorder (aka SAD), and it happens because of changes in the normal daily rhythm of our bodies.

Our circadian rhythm can be affected by how much light (and maybe what type / wavelength of light) enters our eyes, and for many parts of the world, this changes dramatically in winter months, when there are fewer hours of daylight. In other words, this would suggest that the further away from the equator you are, the greater your risk of developing SAD.

This is why some people with this condition use light therapy boxes, to provide the equivalent of additional natural sunlight.

Drugs

I’m using this term in a fairly broad sense – i.e. prescription drugs (e.g. anticonvulsants, benzodiazepines, beta-blockers, corticosteroids, statins, and stimulants), “recreational” drugs, alcohol, and others.

Some drugs are designed to alter the way your mind works, so it may be only reasonable to expect side-effects such as anxiety and depression.

Female Sex Hormones

It is common knowledge that women suffer from depression at a much greater rate than men – about twice as much, in fact.

One idea is that this related to the levels of hormones such as estrogen and progesterone – the primary female sex hormones.

Supporting this possibility is the fact that women are less likely to suffer from depression after menopause (i.e. when their sex hormone levels decrease).

Genetics

Nobody is (yet) saying that your genes will definitely cause you to suffer from depression, but there is a growing body of evidence that some people are predisposed to it (as well as to many other possible ailments).

This shouldn’t be a surprise, given that we know some diseases are genetically-driven. For example, I have a friend with Friedreich’s ataxia, and she has it because both of her parents have it.

And while some people still dispute that problems such as depression are actually diseases, that does not alter the fact that some people appear to be more likely to suffer from it than others.

Another area where scientists are learning more every day is the subject of epigenetics. This is the study of how environmental influences (e.g. diet) can affect how our genes our expressed. What this means is that, while diet cannot change our DNA per se, it can affect how our body read and then reacts to the genes that constitute that DNA, which in turn can create physical and mental changes.

Having Regrets

If you are constantly looking back and wishing you had done things differently, then you are living in the past and you are harming your own self-esteem.

You cannot change the past – you can only accept it and try to learn from it.

This has always been a big thing for me – I have tried to live my life without regrets, but not only for the reasons just provided.

I accepted a long time ago now that who I am today (which is somebody I am finally happy with, for the most part), is the result of thousands, maybe millions, of decisions I have made over the course of my life.

And while some decisions you make are likely more significant than others, you never know how your entire life might have been changed by any one of those decisions.

For example, eating a different meal one night when I was 18 probably wasn’t going to alter my life’s course in any meaningful way, but my decision to let somebody I knew did not have a driving licence borrow my car one night, when I was 18, almost certainly did change the direction my entire life since then has taken.

Do I regret lending my car to that person that night? No, because any number of things could be different now. While it’s true some of those changes could have led me to a better place, you cannot ignore the fact that some of those might have led me to a much worse place.

When we think “what if…”, we like to imagine that we would always be in a better situation, but there is no guarantee of that.

If you want to see what I mean, I strongly recommend watching the movie “The Butterfly Effect” (2004).

To finish this section, I’ll leave you with one of my favourite quotes, which goes as follows: “Our past, including all of our experiences and feelings, are the building blocks of our future. Which blocks we discard, and how we assemble the blocks that are left, is entirely up to us.”

Imbalance In Brain Chemistry

This is the prevalent idea of the majority of the medical profession, and specifically, this usually refers to chemicals called neurotransmitters, which help different areas of the brain communicate with each other. The two most well-known ones are dopamine and serotonin, but there are plenty of others.

The hypothesis is that an imbalance in these neurotransmitters (and maybe other chemicals too) can cause mental health problems such as depression.

However, there are competing hypotheses that depression is not caused by a chemical imbalance, but by something else, such as a state of high arousal, caused, for example, by the presence of “stress hormones” like cortisol and noradrenaline. In other words, depression is the result of how we have learned to respond to life – because the hormones we produce are the result of the emotions we feel and express, and not the other way around.

Information Overload

I don’t think anybody would doubt the fact that we are presented with more information these days than at any other previous stage in human history.

I suspect we are exposed to more information in one day than our ancestors might have been during their entire life.

This constant bombardment with information (e.g. advertising, soundbites, videos, music, people talking) is stretching the ability of our brains to filter out what is meaningful and what isn’t, what is worth remembering and what can be instantly forgotten.

You can try to cut some of this barrage out using devices such as noise-cancelling headphones, but it’s difficult to turn off the visual stimulation, unless you don’t watch TV, don’t use social media, and don’t read newspapers.

Part of this is our constant exposure to tragedy and death. If you watch the news these days, you see a lot of it – wars, famines, natural disasters, murders, rapes, accidents, and more.

And while this can be a salutary reminder that most of us have a lot to be grateful for (most of the time), there comes a stage when all of this doom and gloom is just too much for our brains to take in and process.

What this all means is that, if you cannot block as much of this noise out as possible (and I’m not just talking about auditory noise), you may end up with an over-stressed brain, which can result in depression.

Lack Of Connection

Our lifestyles today are, in spite of all the social media platforms interactions with people we refer to as “friends”, more disconnected than previously.

Humans evolved to exist and live in small communities, of 150 – 200 people. Everybody knew everybody else, they cared for each other, and they had communal rules that had serious, life-threatening consequences (e.g. being banished from the village) for those who broke those rules.

Today, while many of us live physically closer to each other than ever before (think high-rise buildings in cities like New York), we are emotionally more detached from each other.

We may no longer live close to our parents or grandparents, divorce rates are much higher (meaning children may be separated from one of their parents by greater distances), we spend a lot of our time in isolation (e.g. travelling in cars, working in cubicles, attached to our smartphones, or just in a rush to get from A to B).

This is taking a toll on the human psyche, and statistics show that more and more people are feeling chronically lonely.

And, surprise, surprise, loneliness is a possible trigger for depression.

The other aspect of all this is how life has become so sterile and disconnected from nature. Humans evolved to live in and be part of the natural world around us, and it’s only within the last century or so that life as we know it, in large cities with, in many cases, little evidence that nature even exists, has come about.

This may be why going for a walk in the woods, or along a riverbank, can be so therapeutic, because it puts us back where we have belonged for most of our history.

In fact, in Japan, it even has a name – Shinrin-Yoku (which translates as “forest bathing”). A forest bath is a “gentle walk that supports well-being through sensory immersion in forests and other naturally healing environments.”

Loss (Including Grief)

Losing somebody close to you, whether it’s a parent, spouse / partner, child, a good friend, or even a beloved pet, can be devastating for many people.

As detailed elsewhere in this guide, it is considered one of life’s major stressors, so it’s not too surprising that the death of somebody who means a lot to you could trigger a bout of depression.

Nutritional Deficiencies

As the saying goes, we are what we eat. If you put the wrong type of fuel in your car, there’s a good chance that you will encounter problems (e.g. your car will stop working), and the same applies to our bodies – eat and drink the wrong foods, and you’ll end up with health problems.

And these problems may be physical or mental.

An increasing number of studies are confirming there is a bi-directional link between your brain and your gut. And in fact, most of the body’s serotonin is actually produced in your gut, which is also the location of the majority of your immune system.

Perfectionism

While it’s admirable to strive for perfection, because most of us want to do the best job we can (and I’m not using the word “job” here solely to refer to how you earn your money, but to any activity that you undertake), there is a massive downside: perfection is usually unattainable.

Studies have shown that perfectionists are much more likely to struggle with anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, and self-deprecating feelings.

There are two issues:

1. Not achieving perfection can feel like failure, and that will eventually discourage such people from trying anything new (i.e. “What’s the point of starting something if it’s going to fail?”)
2. You can get bogged down in minutiae, wasting time and effort (and maybe money), when what you have achieved so far is already good enough.

Either way, you are not doing yourself any favours by trying to be perfect, or create perfection, and you may become so obsessed by it that you end up with mental health issues, including anxiety and depression.

I know this is a hard one to crack if you’re a perfectionist – I’ve struggled with it for most of my adult life, and while it can be difficult to accept, you do have to recognize when good enough is good enough.

Physical Health Issues

As I just said, there is a two-way link between your brain and your body.

This means that certain physical problems, such as Addison’s disease, liver disorders, and thyroid disorders, can cause symptoms of depression.

Alternatively, chronic illnesses can lead to major bouts of depression. (It’s worth noting that estimates indicate that over half of the children in the USA now have some form of chronic illness, so that would suggest rates of depression are only going to increase. And while chronic illness induced depression is probably not the only cause, more and more teenagers are committing suicide.)

Projecting

If you worry about the fact you never know what others are thinking, you can often end up projecting your own worries, insecurities, and doubts, on to others.

This can lead you to assume that they don’t like you, for example, and this can create a downward spiral of self-esteem issues, anxiety, and, ultimately, depression.

So, before letting yourself fall down this rabbit hole, ask yourself whether there is any actual evidence that the other person doesn’t like or trust you. In most cases, you’ll discover it’s just your imagination playing tricks on you.

Stress

There is obviously a clear link between stressful events and depression.

No matter how strong you may be, mentally, there comes a time when almost everybody reaches their breaking point – and that can be when depression sets in.

The most stressful events in our lives are reckoned to be:

• The death of a spouse or child.
• Divorce.
• Marital separation.
• Imprisonment.
• Death of a close family member.
• Personal injury or illness.
• Getting married.
• Being fired or made redundant from your job.
• Marital reconciliation.
• Retirement.
• Going on vacation with your children (which is more stressful for fathers, apparently).

One possible cause of this link is that excessive production of cortisol, the so-called “stress hormone”, can cause a disruption in the creation of serotonin, one of the body’s key neurotransmitters.

Tempting Addictions

We are, as a society (especially in countries such as the USA), surrounded by temptations, all of which can be (because they are designed that way) highly addictive.

Examples include alcohol, binge-watching (e.g. Hulu, Netflix), drugs (both legal and illegal), fast food, gambling (particularly in online casinos), porn, smartphones, social media, tobacco, but there are many more.

And this is something that no previous generation has encountered.

All this means that our attention spans are becoming ever shorter (compare how long an “hour’s” TV show used to be years ago – e.g. 50 minutes – to how long they are nowadays, which is often no more than 43 minutes), and our need for “highs” (not necessarily drug-induced, of course) are becoming increasingly demanded.

This high state of arousal coupled with the addictive nature of life today, which is hard to ignore, can easily lead to mental health issues, such as depression.

Unmerited Guilt

We are all humans, which means sometimes we make mistakes. And if those mistakes hurt others in some way, then we naturally feel guilty.

And there’s nothing wrong with that.

What is harmful, however, is when we blame ourselves for something we had no control over, or something we could not realistically have done any differently.

Once you start dwelling on such events, you can start to feel like a failure (e.g. “Nothing I ever do is right”), then you start putting yourself down, and the next thing you know, you are suffering from depression.

You need to learn to forgive yourself, especially for things that were truly not your fault. Remember, if it was somebody you cared about (e.g. a family member or friend) who had done what you think you did, would you berate them for it for the rest of your life, or would you forgive them? Aren’t you worth treating the same way you would treat those closest to you?

Conclusion

So, as you can see, there are a lot of factors that can lead to or cause symptoms of depression.

This is why it can be so difficult trying to establish what caused yours.

And, of course, the above doesn’t even touch on issues such as negative experiences as young children, which we may barely consciously remember.

While there are steps you can take to reduce some of the symptoms of depression (and you’ll find articles on this site about this), once you identify the root cause, you at least have something you can work with and try to find a solution for.

Additional Resources

These are suggestions for those who wish to delve deeper into any of the above:

1. Light Therapy Box
2. Noise-Cancelling Headphones
3. Vitamins And Minerals That Can Make Your Depression Better Or Worse