Hello, Obsidianbutterfly!

Yes, I believe certain people can behave or communicate in ways that trigger responses/feelings that feed one's depression. How this happens differs from person to person.

Your situations reminded me of what I remember hearing about Transactional Analysis (TA) sometime in the past century. To use TA terms, is it possible that some of these people approach you as Parent->Child instead of Adult-Adult? Do you have trouble remaining an Adult when someone tries to interact with you as a Parent?