His primary care doctor recommended a psychologist or psychiatrists. The earliest appointment that could be had, in one of the few offices accepting new patients, was six months out.

If you need to be seen by a mental health physician and you've never seen one before, it takes a very long time to get in as a new patient. We've got a mental health crisis in this country, and it's been that way for a lot of years. It would be a good idea to start looking into mental health hospitals. Your friend would need to check if they take his insurance. He might have to travel to find the right facility. I hope your friend gets the help he needs soon. I know what it's like to feel the way he does. A lot of people don't realize how hard depression is on a person. You can get to the point where you don't even want to get out of bed. It's as debilitating as a physical ailment.

Try and find some one you can help

It will make you feel better

I spent my entire life helping others. Brief time as a EMT. USAFR. Being in bands that played far too many benefits for others. Doing acting gigs for free because it was a 'benefit'. All I have ever heard my entire life is that I am 'too nice'. I just cannot any more. I can barely move around sometimes. I am sitting here with my arm in a sling and a bandage on my leg from an infection. I am sitting here alone. No one is helping me. No one is here. My hubby is on a different schedule so we seldom get to hang out these days. No one in this city seems to want to have anything to do with me. After six years, I gave up on that. Now, I sit. Nothing to do and nothing that wants me to do anything anyway.

Next time, ASK what to do about your feelings. Don't wait for them to suggest.

or

go into your municipal social worker (if your town has one) and ask for a referral.

And, they referred me to some clinic. One that des not take my insurance. One that, like so many others, are far more concerned with their bottom line than my health. I do not have the riches needed to get real help. And, having tried several times over the years to find it with my county or state, all they ever wanted to do was toss pills at me. Nothing else, except in one county facility where I was able to meet with a psychiatrist for fifteen minutes once a month. What help! And all he did was constantly harp on me to go get a job so I could afford to go to his private practice and pay him to do what he was suppose to be doing at the clinic. I replied that if I could get a job, manage to stay employed and able to afford his 'help', I would not be there in the first place. I stormed out and have never tried to find help again. The only real mental help in this nation is priced so that only the top tier can get it. And, that is because they don't want the masses to seek help for things. Getting help usually means losing wage slaves, so the top percentile does not want that to happen. At all. So, here I sit, wishing that I was not suffering from 'survival instinct', because then I could finally end this stupid crap.