Mental disorders have become a major source of public concern because of the realization over the past 10 years of their frequency, the human suffering that they inflict, and the high costs to patients, their families and society in general. Kessler and Frank (1997) have calculated that individuals with a single mental disorder miss five times more work days, and spend six times more days at reduced work capacity, than those without disorder. Mental disorders are highly correlated with spouse and child abuse (Bland & Orn, 1986a, 1986b), alcoholism (Helzer et al., 1990), and criminalization (Bland, Newman, Dyck, & Orn, 1990), and are seemingly disproportionately represented among persons of low socioeconomic status (Holzer et al., 1986). Among the mental disorders, depression, in particular, is most worrisome. While mental disorders make 5 of the 10 leading causes of disability worldwide, depression is the first, and alcohol abuse, frequently related to depression, is the second (Murray & Lopez, 1996). Depression is related to suicidal attempts (Dyck, Bland, Newman, & Orn, 1988), and suicide (Robins & Kulbok, 1986), and carries an increased risk for hospitalization (Goodwin & Jamison, 1990). Furthermore, depression is associated with family dysfunction (Weissman, Bruce, Leaf, Florio, & Holzer, 1991), and children from socioeconomically disadvantaged families are at an increased risk for psychiatric disorder, including depression (Offord, 1990). A further concern about depression, its impact on patients, and social costs is its purported relationship with violent behaviour, especially against the immediate family. Depression, alone or in combination with alcohol, has been implicated in violent crime (Bland & Orn,