Abstract
Social support may act to reduce the chances of a major stressor provoking clinical depression, or, for that matter, other forms of psycho-pathology or illness. Interest in this possibility increased in the 1970s with several influential reviews (Caplan, 1974; Cassei, 1974, 1976; Cobb, 1976). In discussing this protective or buffering role, we will take largely for granted that there is now good evidence that most instances of depression are provoked by a critical life event or difficulty. As a rough guide, our argument will turn on two specific themes and one general theme. First, if the link between such events and difficulties and depression is to be understood, the meaning of stressors will need to be dealt with. In our view, this is best done not by asking our subjects directly, but indirectly, using the investigator as a measuring instrument—and by considering an event or difficulty in the light of the context of a particular individual’s life.
This chapter formed the basis of the first Gerald Caplan lecture given by George W. Brown at Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts on October 25, 1984. The research in Islington was supported by the Medical Research Council.
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Brown, G.W., Andrews, B. (1986). Social Support and Depression. In: Appley, M.H., Trumbull, R. (eds) Dynamics of Stress. The Plenum Series on Stress and Coping. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-5122-1_13
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