There's even more interesting research indicating that context of support is crucial. (Gable, et al, Safely Testing the Alarm: Close Others’ Responses to Person

There's even more interesting research indicating that context of support is crucial. (Gable, et al, Safely Testing the Alarm: Close Others’ Responses to Personal Positive Events, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2012, Vol. 103, No. 6, 963–981) This interesting study provides strong evidence, it's much easier to support a partner in context of a positive event than in context of a negative event. Context appears to play an even more important role than responsiveness or sensitivity of the person giving support. In fact, even if a partner recognizes that he or she received helpful support for a negative event shortly after the event occurred, by several weeks later the support is not generally remembered as positive. If you want to support your partner in a helpful way, make sure you're supporting them when good things happen, and don't count on rescuing someone when things go wrong.