There's no single cause of clinical depression. It can happen for many reasons and it has many triggers.
Traumatic or stressful life events can cause clinical depression.
These include:
- bereavement
- divorce
- illness
- losing your job
- job or money worries
Different causes can often combine to trigger clinical depression. You may feel ill, experience a traumatic event and a bereavement close together. These events could cause clinical depression.
A downward spiral of events can lead to clinical depression. For example, you break up with your partner. You feel low and stop seeing your friends and family. You start to drink more. All of this can make you feel worse and trigger depression.
Stressful events
Bereavement and relationship breakdown can be hard to cope with. You are more likely to become clinically depressed when stressful life events happen. If you also stop seeing your family and friends, the risk increases.
Personality
You may be more vulnerable to clinical depression if you have certain personality traits. This includes people with low self-esteem or being overly self-critical.
Your personality can be a result of the genes you inherited, life experiences or both.
Family history
If a close family member had clinical depression, you are at higher risk of becoming depressed.
Pregnancy and giving birth
Some women are at risk of clinical depression during pregnancy or in the first year after having a baby. Hormones and physical changes during this period can affect how you feel. The stress and responsibilities of a new life can add to a low mood. This is called postnatal depression.
Loneliness
Being cut off from your family and friends can increase your risk of clinical depression.
Alcohol and drugs
Some people use alcohol or drugs to cope with how they are feeling. This can increase your risk of becoming clinically depressed. Alcohol and drugs can make you feel better for a short time, but they can also lower your mood.
Cannabis can help you relax. But it can increase your risk of becoming clinically depressed. Especially when you are young and your brain is still developing.
'Drowning your sorrows' with alcohol is also not recommended. Alcohol is a depressant. This makes depression worse.
More information and support is available on the following websites:
Illness
Dealing with a long illness or life-threatening illness can increase your risk. This includes having a heart attack, stroke or cancer.
Head injuries can also be a cause of clinical depression. A severe head injury can trigger mood swings and emotional difficulties.
An underactive thyroid can cause physical changes in your body. You can have extreme tiredness and lose interest in sex. This can lead to clinical depression.
An overactive thyroid also increases the risk of depression.
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Content supplied by the NHS and adapted for Ireland by the HSE