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Chronic illness is considered the number-one predictor of depression.

The people and places that surround you can cause depression.

If you expect bad things to come, you can become depressed.

Suffering is hard enough to deal with, but not knowing why you’re suffering is even harder. Depression can feel like an unpredictable storm of hopelessness, but just like the weather, there are patterns that shape when and why your depression comes. There are three major categories of triggers that can cause you to feel depressed: your body, your environment, and your expectations of the future. It’s important to understand all three so that you can best prevent future depressive episodes.

According to the World Health Organization, chronic illness is the number-one risk factor for becoming depressed. This is because depression and being sick share an important trait: They cause your body to have an immune system response. Depressed people tend to have more inflammation, lower levels of iron, and a slightly higher body temperature than people who aren’t depressed.

There are hundreds of research studies examining this mind-body connection (like this one), but the important part for you to know is that when something negatively impacts your body, it can negatively impact your mind. If your body is sick, chronically malnourished, or routinely sleep-deprived, then your chances of feeling depressed increase. Longer-term stressors........

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