Even more important than experts in alleviating the stresses of everyday life are our family and friends – our everyday supports. Researchers have found that even in rat models of depression, social supports play a crucial role in mediating the effects of stress on the development of depressive-type symptoms. In one model, researchers expose a more submissive rat in a cage to a more dominant one. The dominant rat will attack the submissive one and beat it into a state of submission, which the researchers have suggested is the equivalent of a depressed state. If they then place the injured rat alone in a cage, it will remain in a cowering, submissive posture. This will not occur if the rat is returned to a cage with its litter mates. The presence of these other rats appears to provide relief from the depressive symptoms, which do not persist.

Although it may be novel to consider the importance of social supports in protecting against depression in other species, its value in shoring up the human spirit should come as no surprise. In small communities all over the world there is considerable support from neighbours, friends and family in times of need. A good friend or, better still, circle of friends is one of the best non-pharmacological anti-depressants you can find. Cicero, writing about friendship about 2,000 years ago, observed that a joy is doubled and a sorrow halved when it is shared with a friend.

In our modern industrial society, however, where people move around more frequently and often live in more impersonal settings, the support of family and friends is often lacking. This is reflected in the Beatles’ famous song Eleanor Rigby, where the group sings about all the lonely people and asks where they all belong. Eleanor Rigby who ‘picks up the rice in a church where a wedding has been’, is a symbol for those of us who are detached from a group of supportive people. Where can such people find comfort and support in times of need? Others who fall into this category are those who come from dysfunctional families, which appear to be ever-increasing in prevalence. Often such people feel that they cannot turn to their families in times of need because they will not be understood and accepted for who they are. Such people can find enormous support and comfort by turning to support or recovery groups.

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