Before you can figure out how to treat or cure your depression, you need to pinpoint the causes of depression. Just identifying the cause of any problem is often half the battle. Because if you know what caused the problem, it's much easier to figure out how to fix it.

Genetics

In early '06, Rockefeller University researchers–with the help of an international team of scientists–identified a "depression gene" called p11. Evidently this gene controls serotonin transmission in your brain. And in case you didn't know, serotonin is the main 'mood chemical' in your brain; if you don't have enough floating around your brain, you will be prone to depression.

But you should know that a bad p11 gene doesn't mean you will be depressed. It just means that you will be more apt to get depression. The reason for this is that depression is a very complex disease with not only physical causes but psychological ones as well.

Let's take a fictional character "Joan" as an example: Her p11 gene is bad, but she's not depressed and never has been. But now - six months after the death of her husband, she still can't get out of bed until 2pm, her home has not been cleaned for many weeks, and she hasn't gotten out of the house to see friends or family. She's not in mourning but clinically depressed. (Joan will probably respond well to a "Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor" like "Prozac.")

However, anti-depression medication will not bring back a deceased loved one, which was the event (a.k.a. the "precipitating event") that got the depression started. And this is why it's important to treat depression with therapy such as cognitive therapy, in addition to taking medicine.

But is there another option to treating depression? Yes there is - and for those that can manage it - it's called "self help." Like following a step-by-step plan on overcoming and curing depression (which you'll find out how to do this later…)

Anxiety From Stressful Event(s)

Even though your serotonin levels may be normal, a single stressful event (like in the above example) can make someone clinically depressed. And sometimes it's a combination of events that can make some folks develop depression…

I was so depressed at one time that I tried to kill myself by driving over 130 mph into a bunch of trees. (The fact that it was a "bunch of trees" instead of just one big tree is one reason I'm here with you now.) But when you read my story you will nevertheless be astounded I survived. I was only 16.

Miraculously surviving my suicide attempt was a turning point in my life if there ever was one. I started looking for natural cures for depression because, for one thing, there was no such thing as depression medication like "Zoloft," and I just knew it was up to me to figure out how to outsmart depression. This was something that–at least in my case–could not be solved in a pill, no matter how "high-tech" the medical technology.

It's Rarely Just One Stressful Event

Usually, it's a series of events over time that gets people depressed. Take divorce, for example: Even though the word "divorce" describes a single event, it can lead to multiple highly stressful things happening to the divorcee all at once:

- Loss of companionship

- Loss of financial security: "How am I going to pay off this debt?"

- No more nice house and car.

- Loss of contact with your own children…no need to explain the huge stress this is.

- Moving even though you didn't want to move.

…And so on–you get the general idea.

Taught To 'Enjoy' Depression

It is strange, but some folks actually enjoy the sadness of depression… They are 'at home' with this feeling because they feel it's the most appropriate way to react to the death of a loved one or some other stressful event.

The reasons for this 'depression response' are two-fold: It protects them from having to deal with responsibilities of everyday life, and/or it gets them attention they wouldn't otherwise get from people around them.

Psychologists tell us one theory is that they are "taught" this behavior as toddlers:

If your parents rarely paid attention to you unless you cried, you learned that "the squeaky wheel gets the grease," as the old saying goes; as long as you were in distress, people paid attention to you and comforted you.