The role of social support in the functioning of patients with unipolar depression

Abstract

Outpatients (44) with unipolar depression were studied to determine the association among social support systems, life events, social adjustment and depressive symptoms. Social support had a reasonably high correlation with outcome measures. Patients with high social support had significantly better scores than those with low social support on the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression and the Social Adjustment Rating Scale Self-Report. Social support systems play a critical role in the ongoing functioning of a defined group of depressed patients.