Mish--
Please ask about CBT. It is short-term therapy, almost like taking a class. Here is a link that explains some of it:

http://www.nami.org/Template.cfm?Section...;ContentID=7952

It is specifically designed to help combat the thoughts that you are experiencing, from the worthlessness to the suicidal thoughts. It is action-based - that you can DO something about it, in the here and now.

I have to dig a bit, but I think I can find the materials that were given to me.

You might be able to find a social worker who is trained in it who will hold a weekly group session in it (I think it is 8 or 12 weeks) - then they are committed to be on-call to help you implement any of the techniques afterwards....