Personality factors

The personality of each person can also decide whether or not one falls ill with depression. Studies have shown that extremely orderly, compulsive, performance-oriented people (so-called melancholic type) with low self-confidence are more likely to suffer from depression than, for example, people with very self-confident and strong personality traits. People with a low frustration tolerance (i.e. people who have difficulty dealing with disappointment) are also more likely to suffer from depression more often and more quickly.

Besides genetics and personality, our upbringing also plays an important role in the development of depression. For example, if children experienced their parents as very clinging and anxious and caring, these children probably never learned to make their own decisions, to separate from their parents and to be self-confident. They have often not learned to deal with stress or to make their own decisions.

If these children then find themselves in adult situations in which they have to act independently and take responsibility, they often feel overwhelmed. They decompensate and often see no way out. Psychodynamically, this leads to a regression (a regression), which manifests itself in a lack of drive, fatigue and social withdrawal.

Parallel to this, feelings of guilt and self-accusation often occur. One feels like a failure, whereby negative thoughts are further intensified and can ultimately lead to suicidal tendencies (suicide). The theory of “learned helplessness” also plays an important role here.

This theory says that people believe they are powerless over various things; that they can never change anything. For example, if people fail a job interview, they think it is because they are a failure. If one then begins to generalize these thoughts, i.e. to extend them to other areas of life, one gets into thought patterns of learned helplessness.

These people think for example: “I can’t even get a job and I can’t stop smoking. No matter what I start, I can’t do anything. So I am a failure.

“Such thoughts have drastic consequences for our self-esteem and our lives. Those affected often retreat and become passive. This in turn leads to the fact that they actually do not change their situation and the future looks pessimistic. A disturbed mother-child relationship, the early loss of a parent or a lack of self-esteem since early childhood can also lead to a particular vulnerability (vulnerability) to stress factors and disappointments and ultimately end in depression. Even inadequately processed stress traumas from the past (such as rape or war experiences) can be revived in current conflicts (separation from the partner) and promote the outbreak of depression.

Reactive factors

Depression often only occurs when certain negative, stressful or critical life events occur. These can range from moving house or reaching retirement age (relocation depression) to separation from life partners or the death of loved ones. Chronic conflicts (such as a conflict-ridden partnership or a permanent overload at work) can also lead to depression in the long term. Other studies have shown that stressful life events such as weddings or moving house lead to an increased release of cortisol (stress hormone). This in turn influences our metabolism, brings it out of balance and can ultimately lead to the onset of depression.