I remember the day when my family made a joke about being predisposed to depression.

The joke went something like, “You beat our family’s genes,” and it was followed by a couple of chuckles. (Great joke, I know.)

I was seemingly happy, doing life, and chugging along like the little engine that could, and I had seemingly made it out of the prison of our family’s DNA unscathed. The thing is, depression isn’t only in our genes.

Though our DNA can predispose us to certain conditions (imbalances in our brains and such), there are several complex factors that contribute to depression. And surprisingly, some of these factors have a greater impact on depression than our genetics: