Reasons why people get depressed
Depression is not that well understood by many. Do you actually know what causes depression?
Depression is a form of suffering. Suffering means a person doesn’t feel good physically, mentally and emotionally. There is a reason or cause behind all forms of suffering. It can be just one or several reasons or causes, which lead to suffering – one form of suffering has the name depression. There are various types of depression. Here we outline the most common known causes of depression, which either can cause developing depression on their own or they contribute among other factors.
Here is an overview of common contributors/factors for developing depression symptoms.
What causes depression?
- Genes (certain hereditary predispositions)
- Brain chemistry (neurotransmitters functioning)
- Hormones (thyroid/glandular imbalance)
- Too low or too high levels of certain vitamins, minerals, nutrients
- Substance abuse (drugs, medications)
- Too much toxicity in the body (exposure to toxins, which get into the body)
- Illnesses (can cause depression and/or depression like symptoms)
- Daylight (not enough exposure to sun)
- Personality (how one reacts to life events)
- Stress (exposure to stress over longer periods of time)
- Sleep (low quality sleep, not enough sleep)
- Abuse (various emotional traumas)
- Loss of a loved one (ongoing prolonged sadness and grief)
- Relationship problems (violent type of communication)
- Difficult life situations (financial loss, other, not able to cope with such events)
- Bullying (emotional and mental wounds)
- Poverty and related suffering
- Negative outlook for the future
- Lack of meaning in life
- Habitual repetitive negative thinking and feeling of associated emotions
- Loneliness, lack of social interactions
- Not seen and valued by others, not feeling supported and recognized
- Lack of love
- Fears
- Too much worrying
- Low self-esteem, low self-confidence
- Dissatisfaction with many/most things
- Lack of exercise, bad eating habits (effects gut health, brain health, overall health, which is linked also to mental health), suppressing emotions
- Over-sensitivity to suffering and negative behavior of others (picking up negative emotions from others and feeling them as if they are your own)
Often it is a combination of several of these causes, which can cause depression.
When looking at this longer list it becomes clear:
- Why is it so common and easy to feel depressed – there are a lot of possible causes, and many of them are common in our society due to certain dominant values, the environment we are permanently exposed to, lifestyle choices.
- When we want to successfully treat depression, we have to examine as thoroughly as possible the individual possible causes, because a different cause requires a different approach for treatment. Not just to get the fastest and best results, but with the goal in mind: if there are no more root causes, there cannot be depression anymore.
If you identify the causes and if you know how to treat not just some of the symptoms, but especially these causes effectively, then the task ahead is to follow a good plan of steps, which helps to eliminate dissatisfactions and imbalances and dealing with / healing from traumatic experiences. This often includes making various changes in lifestyle, learning and applying new ways of thinking patterns and coping mechanisms with difficulties and challenges in life, which we all face at some points in our lives.
Something needs to change and improve. It’s best to consult with others. It’s better to consult with more than one person and not just with friends and family members, but also with some experts, specialists on this topic. If you cannot get appointments in person, you may consider online help from specialized therapists.
There are people who are depressed and they don’t know why.
Many people don’t seek help, they suffer in silence. Over time, it gets worse.
Some people cry for help, and they don’t get any or enough help.
Most common approach for dealing with depression is psychotherapy and antidepressants (medications).
If you are interested to find out more about depression and about a wide range of complementary therapies, solutions, holistic approaches, I highly recommend reading the book:
Quest for a Depression-free Life, a Practical Guidebook
It is free to download as a pdf file.