Clinical practice and epidemiologically based scientific research are absorbing and demanding areas of activity; it is hardly surprising that few people are able to find the time to master the problems that need to be understood and worked on in the two areas. Several authors have suggested that a fundamental component of psychotherapy is the provision of social relationship or social support resources. Winefield has discussed parallels and differences in the helping process linking psychotherapy and social support specifically. Both provide esteem enhancement and informational support. Marziali developed a social support measure for use with psychiatric patients entering and completing psychotherapy. An attempt to appraise the effectiveness of case-level and community-level social care has been provided in a review of the social work literature by Goldberg. The future use and development of the concept of social support will depend on an equitable balance between observational studies and experimental research.