The experience of depression should be characterized as a phenomenon of the man-environment system, that is, taking into account the influence of the social factor (Coyne J., 1976; McCullough J., 1984, 1996).
Urbanization, acute and chronic stress, increase in life expectancy, population migration are distinguished as social factors contributing to the formation of depression.
Experimental models of the formation of depression suggest that it most often develops in conditions of chronic stress (conflict in the family, at work, etc.) and attempts to cope with it using inadequate psychological defense mechanisms.
The most destructive for the body is a chronic stressful situation, less often – acute stress in young years. It is at this time that the need for independent living, a change in its stereotypes and the need to achieve goals for a certain period of time appears. Weak control skills, most often formed as a result of increased parental guardianship, in this case play the role of additional “harmfulness”. Constant reproaches from parents, the tendency to blame a young person for any failures, frequent insults, expressive comments, ultimately form a feeling of helplessness and increase the likelihood of the risk of developing depression.
The most destructive for the body is a chronic stressful situation, less often – acute stress in young years. It is at this time that the need for independent living, a change in its stereotypes and the need to achieve goals for a certain period of time appears. Weak control skills, most often formed as a result of increased parental guardianship, in this case play the role of additional “harmfulness”. Constant reproaches from parents, the tendency to blame a young person for any failures, frequent insults, expressive comments, ultimately form a feeling of helplessness and increase the likelihood of the risk of developing depression.
If a person, being in a chronic stressful situation, additionally suffers an acute mental trauma, the development of depression becomes a more likely event, since a prolonged state of stress probably sets the stage for the manifestation of an episode of depression. The early loss of one of the parents, divorce, experiences associated with a catastrophe or war, loss of work and other difficult life situations can contribute to the occurrence of depressive spectrum disorders, revealing susceptibility to these conditions. Repeated stressful situations especially increase the predisposition to the occurrence of depressive spectrum disorders. More rarely, depression can manifest itself for the first time without the influence of stressful factors or even against the background of favorable events and a positive situation.
Unfavorable family situation, improper and distorted upbringing can predispose to depression. Frequent quarrels, accompanied by scandals, fights, mutual insults are a breeding ground for the development of depression. Physical violence, brutal upbringing, the presence of a mental disorder in one of the parents (in fact, it is a chronic stressful situation) contribute to the appearance of depression in adolescents. When there are frequent family quarrels, children are emotionally involved in the situation. The child accumulates negative memories, traumatic experiences, which further determines his emotional vulnerability, the tendency to interpret any situation in a special way, which persists even when children grow up (Lagerheim B., 2004). The inability to distance oneself from the emotions of others remains a kind of stigma for such children even at a later age.
An unhappy childhood contributes to the early onset of depression, which can debut at the age of 18-20 years. This circumstance is probably due to the fact that an unhappy childhood complicates the period of puberty and thereby affects the nervous and hormonal systems of the body.
Depressive spectrum disorders more easily occur during menopause, especially if it occurs in the face of a stressful situation. Here we can note another environmental factor associated with increased care, protection of one person by another. If this protection disappears, for example, in the event of a divorce, the second person is particularly sensitive to depression.
Despite the important role of stress in the genesis of depression, it is unclear why her first episode is more sensitive to stress than subsequent ones, that in the case of bipolar depression, external factors have little effect on the onset of depression. With prolonged depression, it is difficult to determine what plays a major role in its occurrence – a stressful situation or a depression that precedes this situation.
According to the hypothesis of spontaneous sensitization, the first prolonged depressive episode, usually arising after a prolonged stressful situation, leaves behind pronounced and persistent neurobiological changes in certain brain structures, especially in the limbic system, sensitize the human body to a recurrent depressive episode after minor stress or even spontaneously. Repeated depressive episode occurs much more easily in the same setting as the first one. Sometimes it is more pronounced and develops faster than the first. In the case of the development of bipolar depression, a repeated depressive episode can proceed as a double phase.