What Can Lead to Depression? Common Causes and Solutions

Depression is one of the most common presenting problems for people who are starting in therapy along with symptoms of anxiety. People often mistake grief or normal feelings of sadness with depression, but depression is more complicated than that and a distinguishable mental illness.

Doctors often oversimplify depression, diagnosing it as being caused by chemical imbalances in the brain. However, there are many more environmental factors that can lead to depression. However complex, depression is treatable. This article will not focus on treatment methods but instead, will home in on what causes depression.

What is Depression?

According to Psychiatry.org, “Depression (major depressive disorder) is a common and serious medical illness that negatively impacts how you feel, the way you think, and how you act… Depression causes feelings of sadness and/or a loss of interest in activities you once enjoyed. It can lead to a variety of emotional and physical problems and can decrease your ability to function at work and at home.”

Symptoms of depression can include: 

• Feeling sad or having a depressed mood
• Loss of interest or pleasure in activities one once enjoyed
• Change of appetite with significant weight loss or weight gain
• Thoughts of death or suicide
• Feeling worthless or struggling with self-deprecating thoughts
• Difficulty thinking, having a “foggy mind,” or making decisions
• Trouble falling asleep, staying asleep, or sleeping too often
• Loss of energy or excessive fatigue
• Slowed movements or speech (severe enough to be noticed by others)
• Increase in “purposeless” physical activity (pacing, can’t sit still, can’t get the body to be still)

To be diagnosed with depression, symptoms must last for at least two weeks and are not due to recent grief. Depression can be mild, moderate, or severe, and some medical conditions can produce similar symptoms. It is important to seek treatment from a doctor and a counselor so that a doctor can rule out any easily treatable medical conditions.

What can lead to depressed feelings?

Biological and genetic factors

The seat of all emotion is in the brain. There are specific brain chemicals that do impact mood, but more than that there are regions of the brain, connections between nerve cells, and the functioning of the nerve cells that can affect mood. There is quite a bit of research on this based on brain imaging. Various regions of the brain, when functioning improperly, can lead to depression, and other regions are greatly affected by depression.

Neurotransmitters also play a large role. Serotonin, Norepinephrine, dopamine, and others greatly impact feelings of depression. One’s mood is also affected by many different genes. Just as people are all different, each person experiences depression differently. It is common knowledge that depression can run in families that have been researched with twin studies and close relative studies.

When one’s close relatives have struggled with depression, it is more likely the person in question will, too. This topic is more complicated than this article can address, but this simple explanation gives an effective overview. Some personalities are more prone to melancholy and feelings of depression, too, which could be a genetic factor.

Stressful life events

Stress can wreak havoc in the body, not just on one’s mental health. Stress can lead to higher levels of anxiety, depression, and many other battles with mental illness. Stressful life events could include things like big moves, job changes, financial struggles, high conflict in the family, bullying, discrimination, and acts of racism. Workplace stress, transitions such as becoming a new parent, one’s kids leaving for college, getting married, etc., can also lead to symptoms of depression.

Trauma

Any traumatic event is something that greatly impacts one daily living, no matter how small or large. A lot of mental illnesses coincide with trauma, but depression is often associated with some traumatic event. Many things could be considered traumatic, including abuse, neglect, abandonment, war, domestic violence, or community violence. Well after the event is over, people may develop symptoms of depression, sometimes even years later. The trauma can greatly impact the body and the chemistry and structure of the brain.

Loss

These losses could be the death of a loved one or close person, a job loss, loss of a friendship, loss of money or material possession, or loss of a marriage or break up. Normal feelings of grief in the grief cycle are different from depression, but prolonged grief can turn into depression. When it never lessens over time and even gets worse to the point of little to no motivation or interest in doing things, feeling a sadness that overpowers all other emotions, depression can be an accurate diagnosis. There is no timeline for any grief, but it usually gets better with time.

Medical problems

Some medical problems can lead to symptoms of depression. This is one reason why it is imperative to see a doctor, too, so that any medical issues can be treated. If depression is connected to one of these types of medical problems, the mood changes should be eliminated when treating the physical issue. Some of the medical issues that are associated with depression are:

• Stroke
• Cancer
• Autoimmune diseases, like lupus
• Nutritional and vitamin deficiencies
• Certain viruses and infections
• Degenerative neurological conditions, like Multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and others
• Some endocrine disorders, like issues with one’s thyroid

Medications

Some medications can produce side effects of symptoms of depression, specifically some of the psychotropic medications. People even report intrusive thoughts of death and suicide as side effects. Some doctors and researchers have also believed that others like birth control or other forms of hormonal treatments can lead to symptoms of depression, too.

If one’s medication is causing these side effects and they are greatly impacting one’s daily life, it may be time to seek a doctor’s opinion on switching medication.

Isolation

When someone feels depressed, one of the first things that they tend to do is withdraw from friends and loved ones because they have little energy or interest in spending time with others. This isolation can make symptoms much worse and lead to more severe issues, like thoughts of suicide. It is dangerous to isolate when depressed, and one of the best things for “treatment” is to be around those who matter most.

Lack of purpose or a feeling of fulfillment

A job that feels life-draining and not in line with a dream or the call on one’s life can cause one to believe that one’s life does not matter and to wonder if there is a purpose for any of it. People can struggle with a lack of fulfillment and purpose for many different reasons, and sometimes it is an issue of learning contentment.

Life situations that feel out of line with one’s true self can bring strong feelings of depression. A lack of any recognized accomplishments or rejections for a “dream job” or “dream relationship” can also bring these feelings.

No matter the cause (or causes) depression can be debilitating and quite serious. Treatment options will not be elaborated on here, but it is not something that should be ignored. When ignored, it can become persistent or chronic, and suicidal ideation can worsen. Reach out to a professional counselor who can help assess and treat depression, and he or she may be able to help determine the cause of one’s depression.

It is possible that someone may never know fully what has led to his feelings of depression. This list is simply to inform of the various things that could. Treatment does not require knowing the cause, though, in some situations, it could help in knowing how to treat most effectively, especially if it is related to any biological or medical condition. A counselor would not treat any medical issues, but she could help someone manage many of the symptoms.