what can a person do about depression when they cannot afford medical treatment.

[BainsBane]

11. I was also going to ask where he is

My state has services for the mentally ill. It depends how poor he is. If he is indigent, he should be covered by Medicaid. Otherwise, he could find somewhere that operates on a sliding fee scale. Catholic Charities offers low cost mental health care, as do other local organizations. Obamacare will kick in by the 2014, but some states have already expanded their Medicaid coverage.

For medication, some companies have programs where they provide free medication for the poor. I received some for a while through Eli Lilly, believe it or not, through a program called Lilly Cares.

The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) should be able to connect him with resources in his area. http://www.nami.org/

It's very common for people to have both depression and chemical dependency, so much so that if you're not chemically dependent some of the programs can seem a bit strange. The one problem with AA is that all of the emphasis is on drinking as a disease rather than the underlying mood disorder that may lead one to self medicate.