How to get treatment for depression without income or health insurance?

I should mention that many of the plans I looked into didn't offer a mental health benefit but for HMOs like Kaiser Permanente. But if you get the high deductible insurance and can find a sliding scale therapist, it will (hopefully) stay within the range of what you can afford.

After 45 years of suffering from clinical depression, I found the source of my problem and corrected it. I haven't been depressed for a single day since. It's likely that the same approach will work for you. Get the whole story in my book, $16 at Amazon, but you're welcome to download it free: http://www.scribd.com/doc/13433353/Up-Without-Meds

Where in California do you live? Depending on your location, there may be specific community mental health services available by city or county. Services can be free or at least available on a sliding-scale. If you don't have a formal diagnosis of depression currently, I wouldn't mention it when applying for health coverage. The underwriting process may still ask about previous diagnoses, though (in my experience, sometimes they ask for a 5-year range, sometimes they ask for a 10-year range).

You could take the cheapskate route: pay whatever you must to see a doctor, maybe get some health insurance for a couple months. Get your dosage figured out, then drop it all. Start ordering generics from India over the internet for twenty cents a pill. It'll cost you less than insurance would to pay for your medication.

I'd second the http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/depression-and-exercise/MH00043 for http://www.webmd.com/depression/guide/exercise-depression. Also consider doing some reading online on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_behavioral_therapy. Both of these can be effective low-cost ways to address the issue.

I have some professional knowledge on this. The first thing is that there is no solution for depression that works for everyone. You have to try and see what may work for you. Meditation is not a bad thing to try first. It does help in some cases, and can be a useful like skill in any case. Assuming meditation doesn't solve your problem, I would try next cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). You would need about 10-12 sessions, so it may be doable on your budget. CBT is the main type of therapy that actually works with a sizeable proportion of patients. It is as effective as drug therapy, and if it works the cure lasts longer (a booster session every 6 months or so is a good idea to keep the benefits). Do not waste your money on generic talk therapy (and certainly not psychanalysis!). It is extremely unlikely to help (never does on randomised controlled trials), and can actually make you worse. If neither meditation nor CBT works you can give drug therapy a try. There are generics to go for, and you can even start with St. John's Wort, which is a mild anti-depressant drug. There are many types of drugs you can try. This could, unfortunately, get expensive. Finally, if all else fails electroconvulsive therapy often works.

Also, make sure you do not withdraw socially, or otherwise spend all your time at home. Going out with friends is helpful even if you don't feel like it because of your depression.

You can get free counselling at your local church. I recommend Presbyterian (UPCUSA) or some other mainstream denomination because of the strenuous training they receive and the lack of judgemental, evangelical or Jebus-based advice. You don't have to be a member of the church. From what I gather, they're trained in counselling and in helping people find help. This includes finding local social programs that might get you the assistance you seek. Full disclosure: SJP=agnostic leaning towards atheism. Both parents were UPCUSA ministers.

Different counties in California offer different degrees of mental health services for indigent people. You don't give any indication of where you live, but look for your county mental health system in the phone book. However, given the budget crisis, many of these programs are contracting and don't offer therapy, though they might be happy to prescribe anti-depressents, if that's an interest of yours. Another low cost way of getting low cost therapy is to go to counseling centers run by local colleges and universities. You would typically see a graduate student in training who is being supervised by licensed faculty members. I've supervised many student therapists, and some of them are great and others are meh -- pretty much like licensed therapists. You can always see what the "fit" is like for you, and request a change if you don't feel there's a good match. In any event, these places usually have sliding scales, and you could get services for low cost. FWIW, I think Hediot's dissing of talk therapy is overstated. Many people have been helped by talk therapy.