Are hospitals my only option? It's just ridiculously expensive! 

You can get them in my alleyway, I have a jacket full of them 😉 

For real though, I found that a lot of the medicine tended to be available in my experience. Probably you can go to a pharmacy and ask around. If it needs a prescription, they can direct you to the right place.

The OP may get clearer answers by specifying which anti-depressant(s) he's looking for.

 

Anti-depressants come in five main types, with different modes of action.

 

Trying to obtain an anti-depressant without a prior diagnosis by a doctor, and their prescription, would be playing Russian Roulette with one's brain cells.

 

Having said that, once one does have a prescription. many are available over the counter at a pharmacy.

They are OTC at any drugstore in Thailand.  If you really want to take that stuff. 

Most antidepressents here do not require a prescription. That said, it is extremely inadvisable to self prescribe these. Among other things, they can trigger manic episodes in people with undiagnosed BPD and greatly worsen anxiety in people with either mixed anxiety/depression or people whose anxiety was wrongly self-diagnosed as depression.

 

You can have a consultation with a psychiatrist at a private hospital wothout buying the rfecommended medication at that hospital - just tell the doctor you will buy it at a pharmacy.

 

Or, you could go to the government psych hospital, very affordable even in the "after hours" clinic (which is recommended over the public channel - more experienced doctors and they'll have more time to spend with you).   https://www.somdet.go.th/

 

 

@Sheryl thanks for the information! i was previously prescribed 20 mg of Prozac but i recently ran out after i moved to bkk. the queues at the public hospitals are just ridiculously long! but, I'll check somdet, thanks!

If you have already been prescribed this by a a doctor and it works well for you, you can buy it in inexpensive local brand at any large Thai pharmacy.

 

Innumerable lical brands. Show the pharmacist "fluoxetine" written down.

What's with all the wind up threads ... 

 

... ridiculously expensive ... 

 

Stay in, turn the TV / MSM off, and you won't be so depressed.