Study of social support in the spouses of depressives.

ABSTRACT

This study was conducted to asses the level of social support amongst the patients of disthymia and unipolar depression. A total of 80 patients with their spouses were included. Results showed no significant differences of social support in this study group. Spouses of patients with unipolar depression with psychotic features perceived lower social support compared with the spouses of unipolar depression without psychotic features. The severity of unipolar depression of the patients correlated negatively with the perceived social support of the spouses.