Hi simplysad,
Please forgive my ignorance about the area where you live, but are there any universities with affiliated hospitals near you? That can be a great source for affordable psychiatric care. You often end up seeing very advanced students or residents (who are already medical doctors) who are under the supervision of attending physicians/faculty. If there isn't such a place within access, have you tried calling area hospitals to see if they have clinics? They often operate with sliding-scale fee structures and so should not charge you more than you can pay. Pharma companies also often have programs that enable you to get meds at a discount or for free, if you have a prescription.
Speaking of prescriptions...please, please don't ever self-prescribe and self-medicate with psych drugs again. I don't mean to be harsh with you. I've just done this myself and I can tell you from my own experience...you don't know what you're doing and you can harm yourself. It's very good to self-educate, but there's all kinds of information on the Internet--good and bad--and if you don't have clinical experience you simply don't know what you're doing. I have a PhD from an Ivy League school, and I generally think I'm pretty darn smart
, and I'm here to testify that I'm not qualified to treat myself with these drugs. In fact, I don't think that most
doctors are qualified to prescribe these meds; I think only specialists should be able to prescribe them. (That's not going to happen, of course, because there's too much money to be made by throwing them around like candy.
) Especially with your medical history, you need to be seen by a real-live doctor who can comprehend your whole situation.
I suffer from depression, too, and while therapy has been very helpful to me in lots of ways, it never helped me when I was in a bad depression. My cousin and my uncle had the same experience...therapy was interesting, but medication really helped them recover from depressive episodes. Everyone is different, of course, and I think it's critical to respect those differences, as well as the wishes of the patient. I deeply wish I had had medication sooner, but that's water under the bridge.
OK, sorry to go on for so long.
It's just something I feel strongly about.
Please let us know what happens, OK?
In need of psychiatrist in area to diagnose and treat affordably 
oops 
I know if you do a Google search (I just checked it) there is over a page of apprearingly reputable psychiatrists firms in St Pete area. I'm in Houston and I think here the average charge is from $150-$250 for a quality dr who is is often listed as an addiction specailist with insurance companies so they can and do charge a little extra beyond the primary care with hmo coverage for sure. Without the benefit of insurance the cost would be the average charge(cost of dr of choice) likely of the dr in the area unless you know a dr charging less in the area. I didn't personally know any specfic drs in St Pete to recommend, perhaps someone else may be able to help. God bless. 
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