If you are in immediate danger or thinking about harming yourself, get help now. Visit a nearby emergency service, hospital, or mental health clinic. If you are in crisis, these helplines can help:
Crisis numbers
- the United States of America:
- the United Kingdom:
- Samaritans: Tel: 116 123 (Free from any phone) | Tel: 0808 164 0123 (Welsh Language Line) | Tel: 18001 44 116 123 (Relay UK). 24 hours. The Welsh Language Line is open every day, 7pm to 11pm.
- Shout, text 85258: Text: 85258. 24 hours.
- India:
- Tele-MANAS: Tel: 14416 | Tel: 1-800 891 4416. 24 hours.
- Vandrevala Foundation Helpline: Tel: +91 9999 666 555 | WhatsApp: +91 9999 666 555. 24 hours.
- Canada:
- 9-8-8: Suicide Crisis Helpline: Tel: 9-8-8 | Text: 9-8-8. 24 hours.
- Hope for Wellness Help Line: Tel: 1-855-242-3310. 24 hours. For Indigenous people across Canada.
- South Africa:
- SADAG Suicide Crisis Helpline: Tel: 0800 567 567. 24 hours.
- Cipla Mental Health Helpline: Tel: 0800 456 789 (24 hours) | Text: 31393 | WhatsApp: 076 882 2775 (8am to 5pm). 24 hours.
- the Philippines:
- NCMH Crisis Hotline: Tel: 1553 (Nationwide) | Tel: 1800-1888-1553 (Nationwide) | Tel: 0919-057-1553 (SMART/TNT). 24 hours.
- Hopeline, suicide and emotional crisis line: Tel: 02-8804-4673 | Tel: 0917-558-4673 | Tel: 0918-873-4673. 24 hours.
- Australia:
- Lifeline 13 11 14: Tel: 13 11 14 | Text: 0477 13 11 14. 24 hours.
- Suicide Call Back Service: Tel: 1300 659 467. 24 hours. For ages 15 and over.
- Germany:
- TelefonSeelsorge, for anyone who needs to talk: Tel: 0800 1110111 | Tel: 0800 1110222 | Tel: 116 123. 24 hours.
- MuTeS, Muslim pastoral and crisis line: Tel: 030 443 509 821. 24 hours.
- Saudi Arabia:
- Psychological Consultation Centre: Tel: 920033360
- Ireland:
- Samaritans, for whatever you're going through: Tel: 116 123. 24 hours.
- Pieta 24-Hour Crisis Helpline: Tel: 1800 247 247 | Text: 51444 (Text HELP). 24 hours.
- Iran:
- France:
- 3114, the national suicide prevention number: Tel: 3114
- Spain:
- Línea 024 de atención a la conducta suicida, for people with suicidal thoughts and their families: Tel: 024 | Chat: www2.cruzroja.es. 24 hours.
- Teléfono de la Esperanza crisis line: Tel: 717 003 717 (Mobile number) | Tel: 914 59 00 55 (Landline). 24 hours.
- New Zealand:
- 1737 Need to Talk?: Tel: 1737 | Text: 1737 | Tel: 0800 1737 1737 (Call (0800 number)). 24 hours. Not a crisis team, and not a service for severe mental illness or distress. Offers brief emotional support.
- Depression Helpline: Tel: 0800 111 757 | Text: 4202. 24 hours.
- Sweden:
- Självmordslinjen, suicide helpline: Tel: 90101 | Chat: mind.se. 24 hours.
- Hjälplinjen, mental health support line: Tel: 90390 | Tel: 0202-90390 (Call (long number)). 24 hours. For people over 18.
- Switzerland:
- Die Dargebotene Hand, emotional support line: Tel: 143 | Tel: 0800 143 000 (English, 6pm to 11pm). 24 hours. Mainly for adults.
- Pro Mente Sana telephone counselling, for people with mental health problems and relatives: Tel: 0848 800 858. For adults. Weekdays 9am to noon; also Monday to Wednesday 4.30pm to 7.30pm, and Thursday and Friday 2pm to 5pm.
- Croatia:
- Telefon za psihološku pomoć (TESA), psychological counselling by phone: Tel: 01 48 28 888. Weekdays, 10am to 10pm; closed for a summer break.
- Linija pomoći Plavi telefon: Tel: 01/4833-888. Weekdays, 10am to 2pm.
- Japan:
- Anata no Ibasho chat (あなたのいばしょチャット相談), free anonymous counselling for anyone: Chat: talkme.jp. 24 hours.
- Inochi no Denwa (いのちの電話), suicide prevention helpline: Tel: 0120-783-556 (Freephone) | Tel: 0570-783-556 (Navi Dial (charged)). Freephone daily 4pm to 9pm, and 24 hours from 8am on the 10th of each month; Navi Dial daily 10am to 10pm, charged.
- Poland:
- Centrum Wsparcia, psychological support for anyone: Tel: 800 70 2222. 24 hours.
- Linia Wsparcia dla Funkcjonariuszy i Pracowników Służb Mundurowych, Ratownictwa Medycznego i ich Rodzin, for uniformed services and their families: Tel: 800 70 2430. 24 hours.
- Pakistan:
- Sehat Tahaffuz 1166, the national health helpline (with the Humraaz mental health service): Tel: 1166
- Taskeen Helpline: Tel: +92 316 827 5336. Appointment-based: a coordinator takes the call and books a session with a psychologist. Monday to Saturday, 11am to 11pm.
- Nigeria:
- She Writes Woman, toll-free and answered at any hour: Tel: 0800 800 2000
- SURPIN, Suicide Research and Prevention Initiative: Toll-free: +234-8000787746 | Tel: +234-908-021-7555 | Tel: +234-903-440-0009 | Tel: +234-814-224-1007
- Sri Lanka:
- Malaysia:
- MIASA_YSD-1800 Crisis Helpline: Tel: 1800 180 066 | WhatsApp: 03-9765 6088. 24 hours.
- Talian HEAL 15555, mental health crisis line: Tel: 15555. Every day, including public holidays.
- Bangladesh:
- Kaan Pete Roi, 3 PM to 3 AM every day: Tel: +880 9612-119911
- Lebanon:
- National Lifeline 1564: Tel: 1564. 24 hours.
- Vietnam:
- Đường dây nóng Ngày mai, free psychological support by phone: Tel: 096.306.1414. Wednesday to Sunday, 1pm to 8:30pm.
- Hy Vọng Sống (HOPE), suicide prevention helpline: Tel: 086 50 444 00. Every day, 12 noon to midnight.
- Botswana:
- BOFWA 24 Hour Youth Helpline: Tel: 16658. 24 hours.
- Cyprus:
- Cyprus Samaritans, emotional support for distress or loneliness: Tel: 80007773. Adults only; every day, 4pm to midnight.
- Portugal:
- Linha Nacional de Prevenção do Suicídio 1411, for suicidal thoughts and self-harm: Tel: 1411. 24 hours. Under-18s need a parent's or guardian's consent.
- SNS 24 psychological counselling: Tel: 808242424 (then option 4). 24 hours. Not meant for suicide risk: the line passes such a call to the emergency medical service at once.
- Egypt:
- The national psychological support hotline: Tel: 16328
- Oman:
- Uganda:
- Butabika National Referral Mental Hospital, 0800 211 306: Tel: 0800 211 306, toll free.
- Namibia:
- LifeLine/ChildLine Namibia 106 Gender-Based Violence HelpLine: Tel: 106 | Text: 081 398 5510. 8am to 8pm.
- Tanzania:
- Singapore:
- national mindline 1771, mental health helpline: Tel: 1771 | WhatsApp: +6566691771 (WhatsApp chat). 24 hours.
- Samaritans of Singapore 24-hour Hotline 1767 and CareText, emotional support for people in distress: Tel: 1767 | WhatsApp: 9151 1767 (WhatsApp (CareText)). 24 hours.
- Not a local line: helplines and suicide hotlines worldwide
How to find the right depression therapist
This page lists practitioners near you who name depression among what they work with and have appointments open. Filter the list, then read the profiles.
Look for the exact title the person is registered under. Look for depression named specifically rather than general practice, and for a method the person can describe.
Read the exact title on the profile, then check that title on the register the practitioner is listed with.
Before you contact a depression therapist
Therapy for depression is talking therapy for a low mood or a loss of interest that has settled in and stayed. Depression is not the ordinary movement of mood. It lasts most of the day, nearly every day, for weeks, and it reaches sleep, appetite, concentration and energy as well as feeling.
It is for someone who has stopped doing the things that used to hold their week together, who is managing at work but has nothing left afterwards, or who cannot say why any of it feels pointless. It is also for someone whose depression came after something real: a loss, an illness, a job going, a birth.
Many national guidelines recommend psychological treatment as the first treatment for depression. Most advise adding medication where the depression is moderate or severe, and not routinely for mild depression. A therapist who works with depression will say early whether they think a doctor should be involved.
Expect the first sessions to build a picture: how long, how bad, what changed, what still gives anything back. Much of the work is then practical as well as reflective, because starting to do things again is part of treating depression rather than proof that it has lifted.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does therapy for depression do?
It works on two things at once: the thinking that keeps the mood down, and the doing that depression has stopped.
Depression takes away the wish to do anything, and doing less lowers the mood further. Therapy breaks that circle from the outside in. You start doing small things again before you feel like it, and the feeling follows.
It is not willpower, and it is not being told to cheer up. It is a method, and practitioners call it behavioural activation.
The thinking half is about the conclusions depression draws: that you are a burden, that nothing will change. The work is testing them rather than accepting them.
Other approaches work on the relationships around the depression, named on profiles as interpersonal therapy. Others work on what in your history it grew out of, named as psychodynamic therapy. Ask which one they use, and why.
How do I know whether I need therapy for it?
When low mood has lasted more than a couple of weeks. When it is affecting work, family or sleep. When it is distressing enough on its own that you want it to stop.
Emotionally: flatness, emptiness, hopelessness, irritability, losing interest in what you used to enjoy, feeling worthless. Physically: sleeping or eating differently, no energy, aches with no cause. Mentally: not concentrating, not deciding, not remembering.
If you are thinking about harming yourself or about suicide, do not wait for an appointment. The crisis numbers are at the top of this page. Some are open day and night and some keep set hours, so if one does not answer, try another or your local emergency number.
What should I look for?
Someone whose training covers treating depression, and who can tell you how. The names you will see on profiles are cognitive-behavioural therapy, behavioural activation and interpersonal therapy. Ask which they use, what the first month would look like, and how they handle safety if things get worse.
What if I have no energy for therapy?
Say so in the first session. It is a symptom, not a reason you cannot be helped. A practitioner trained to treat depression will plan around it.
That is exactly what the doing half of the work is built for. You start with something very small, agreed with you, that is achievable on a bad day. The steps get bigger as the energy comes back, not before.
Getting to the session at all counts. Nobody expects more of you than you have.
Can it be done online?
It works well online. Being seen at home removes the trip, which matters when leaving the house is the hard part. The profile says who offers it.
Ask the practitioner what they would do if you became unsafe between sessions, and agree it before you need it. If your depression is severe, being seen in person is usually the safer arrangement.
What does it cost?
The fee is on the practitioner's own profile. Ask whether a reduced fee is available. A community service or a university training clinic near you may see people for less.
Self-help workbooks and structured online courses cost little or nothing. They are worth starting while you wait.
If cost is the obstacle, read how to find affordable therapy.
Related pages
Real choice. Authentic, independent, clinician-led care.
TherapyRoute is a clinician-led directory that champions independent practitioners who answer to you and their professional ethics. We don't take commissions, sell your data, or assign therapists by algorithm. You browse, compare, and choose.
Vincenzo (Enzo) Sinisi, Clinical Psychologist (HPCSA), Psychoanalyst (IPA/SAPA), Group Analyst (IGA)
TherapyRoute is not for emergencies and does not provide medical advice. All of our content is informational and cannot replace professional healthcare. In an emergency, contact a local emergency service. For immediate support, consider a local helpline.
