Attention, married men suffering from major depression: Positive comments directed at your wife may sometimes be hazardous to your emotional health.

That, at least, is the implication of a preliminary study of couples with either a depressed husband or wife. When depressed husbands discussed marital problems with their wives, the men's approving and friendly comments often elicited nasty and critical retorts, say Sheri L. Johnson of the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Fla., and