Like punkatheart I have had the opposite experience: having to wait very long for dd to be put into anti-depressants despite the fact that she had very little quality of life, was ruining her physical health and was missing out on her secondary education.
Not saying that I blame the doctors who chose to be careful: I can totally see where they were coming from.
Though I can also feel some sympathy for a GP who suspects that his suicidal patient's symptoms are caused by an unbearable social situation but equally knows there is nothing at all he can do to fix that side of it and the only alternative is suicide or at least complete collapse/inability to deal with dependents.
What would you do if you had a patient who was worn down by living in a slum, with no education or hope of a job, surrounded by violence and drug dealers, caring for a severely disabled child and a toddler, who came to you confessing that she wasn't coping and all she could think about was killing herself?
You can't fix the slum or find her a job, services have been cut, there is no support available for her as a carer and you haven't got a hope in hell of even getting her a referral to proper Mental Health services. If you do not do anything, she may well kill herself or at the very least neglect her family. And how can you know that this person isn't medically depressed as well as having an intolerable situation? Should you deny medication to anybody expect those who seem to lead a charmed life? Difficult, difficult.