Hey, not all therapists are left wing, liberal, Birkenstock wearing fruit loops <just most of us
>. I like the Bio-psycho-Social model of understanding what make some folks have a rougher road through life than others do.
There is no doubt about a genetic predisposition for depression, just like diabetes.... it tends to run in families. If you know about the predisposition to diabetes you can take good general care of yourself and in many cases never develop the illness. Some will still develop it no matter how much they eat right exercise and get plenty of rest. If medication is started early before a bunch of damage gets done to the system, a diabetic can still live a very long full and largely symptom free life....
Similar pattern with depression. If aunt Betty killed herself after falling into a depression that just didn't go away.... it would be wise to pay closer attention to emotional well being for all the relatives. That is the "Bio" part of the above and any decent mental health intake will ask about a family history of mental health issues.
The "Psycho" part is pretty much related to what Steelhead wrote about. If a person grows up feeling like there are some people that love them and they see some good role models for dealing with life and gets the sense that it's OK to screw up from time to time as long as you learn something from it.... that is seen as reducing the chances of falling off the edge later on... Call is good training for dealing with emotions.
The "Social" part is really big with teens because they naturally begin to identify more strongly with their peers. It's normal to hang out with different kinds of groups while a person tries to figure out their own identity separate from their family. Someone without a family history of mental health issues and a safe loving home background can spend more time with less desirable peers and still be highly likely to walk away before getting too caught up in negative stuff....
Think about the diabetes analogy. Caught early it can be managed well without medication in many cases..... sometimes medication becomes necessary.... but just taking medication without changing overall health habits isn't going to work out very well in the longer term....
Oh and about the gay thing.... maybe, but I'd guess it's more likely to be projection on the part of the speaker
Good on you for caring enough to post about it. Major depression is very treatable but left unchecked is truly Hell on earth.
