Divorce Increases Depression Risk in Some People

Divorce raises depression risk, but mostly in people who have a history of depression, according to a new study.

Divorce is linked with poor health and depression, even in people who remarry. Other studies have even associated divorce to early death risk.

"Stressful life events like divorce are associated with significant risk for prolonged emotional distress, including clinically-significant depression," said psychological scientist and lead researcher David Sbarra of the University of Arizona. "At the same time, we know from considerable research that the experience of divorce is non-random. Some people are much greater risk for experiencing a divorce than other people."

The data for the research came from Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS) study. Researchers found that about 60 percent of all people who had a history of depression and had divorced/ separated were diagnosed with depression later in life.

For other people- those who were depressed but not divorced and those who were divorced but not depressed- researchers found that future depression incidence was only about 10 percent.

"These findings are very important because they affirm the basic notion that most people are resilient in the face of divorce and that we do not see severe disorder among people without a history of a past depressive illness," said Sbarra. "If you've never experienced a significant depression in your life and you experience a separation or divorce, your odds for becoming depressed in the future are not that large at all."

It is possible that people with earlier depression can't cope with losing a relationship. However, researchers said that the exact mechanism is yet to be discovered.

"Do these people blame themselves for the divorce? Do they ruminate more about the separation? Are they involved in a particularly acrimonious separation? These questions deserve much greater attention," Sbarra said in a news release.