No health insurance, and the wastelists are years long.
Shits way too dam depressing.
http://www.wrongplanet.net/forum3.html
Anyhow I'm avoiding docs, just wondering what you folk have done when shit gets bad.
Depression is a tough subject, and many a strong person has not been able to overcome it and have topped themselves. For starters you could try learning more about it, their is a lot of information out there on the subject and what it is, how it occurs and what to do about it. You could try seeing it like any other problem that can be resolved with the RIGHT information. The way I see it, their is no guarantee of happiness, and the best an individual can do is cultivate an environment that encourages happiness to come and stay. Not unlike a garden, you till the land, fertilise the soil, prepare the rows, plant the seeds, water them regularly etc etc, What I am getting at is that even if you do all the right things for your seeds to grow, their are other variables that may produce a shitty crop, like poor weather conditions, lack of water or poor quality, erosion etc etc.. (even though that sounds depressing, it beats the alternative of not planting a crop and starving to death, you have to at least do what is required to end up with a harvest)
So create an environment for happiness to enter, work at developing friendships, working a job or contributing to society in some way, do something creative, write, draw, sing, play an instrument etc etc, Eat wholesome foods, make sure you exercise, move, move, move, but even if all that fails, don't give up, Life is bizarre, you never know what is around the corner, Life isn't all about being happy, their is something deeper at play, something mysterious, just learn as much as you can about the world around you and yourself, never give up learning about the things you are passionate about, and don't let others get your spirit down because they are in opposition to you.
And remember, when we are severely depressed, we are not actually objectively perceiving reality, our thoughts will be skewed by this negative cloud, our mind will tell us things that aren't true, our minds betray us in this state, and that's why you may need to speak to someone who isn't in such a state to give you objectivity and a way to combat this negative mind-state. What you should be aiming for in cognitive function is a balance between pessimism and optimism, neither state in it's extreme is helpful. Our minds, like guitar strings, need to be neither to loose or too tight.