The literature on social support and its influence on mental and physical health have grown over the last two decades, very few studies have compared the effects of support on mental health across basic sociodemographic categories defined by gender or marital status. This chapter addresses the different role of social support in depression for men and women, and the issue of detrimental influences of support on recovery and relapse. Patients were first approached by the psychiatrist in charge of their treatment and asked for their consent to be included in the study. They were then contacted by a psychologist or psychiatrist member of the research team, who conducted a brief screening interview and administered a depression questionnaire. General exclusion criteria were indications of organic brain syndromes, illiteracy, mental retardation, bipolar disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, or schizophrenic or paranoid syndrome at any time during the study.