WORLD ON SUNDAY: What role do external factors play in depression?
Tom Bschor: Depression can be caused by external factors, but it is not the cause of the illness. The prerequisite is that there is a predisposition. We see it in the fact that other people don’t get depressed with the same trigger. Severe blows of fate, for example. Ultimately, our answer to this question is always very unsatisfactory. It is, of course, easier if one can say: tuberculosis comes from the tubercle and if we kill it, it will be gone again. We can only say: The reasons for depression are multifactorial. And thus a little obscure the ignorance of the causes. Because in essence that means: We didn’t get it right. There is still a Nobel Prize to be won if that is properly explained.
WORLD ON SUNDAY: There are also people who suffer from depression and report that they were actually better at the beginning of the pandemic.
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