It turned out depressed women were three times more likely to be facing serious long-term stressors in their lives in the year before they developed their depression than women who didn’t get depressed. It wasn’t just a bad event that caused depression—it was also long-term sources of stress. And if you had some positive stabilizing things in your life, that massively reduced the chances of developing depression. For every good friend you had, or if your partner was more supportive and caring, it reduced depression by a remarkable amount.
