Stress as a Cause of Depression: Depression is twice as frequent in females than males, and it is well documented that depressed patients have an increase in the number of stressful life events prior to becoming depressed. However, it has been difficult to separate out whether depression leads to increased negative life events or negative life events lead to depression. When careful prospective studies are done and events are categorized, it has been found that a severe event can lead to depression within 6 months in up to 20% of women.
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Negative Life Events Cause Depression in Women
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In addition, in this study of women, when there is more than 1 event, the depression rate is higher. In the figure below notice how risk factors are additive and that the rate of onset varies greatly depending on the presence of risk factors. There is a longer period of risk in this figure but even so, with 2 risk factors with humiliation-entrapment events the percent onset is over 60% – compared to 20% for the whole group for 6 months instead of a year. This illustrates how a few individuals with many risk factors can increase the overall mean values of the larger group.
Negative Events Interact to Produce Depression
