I saw an LCSW not a Psychiatrist. First thing he suggested, supplementing B vitamins and magnesium, along with exercise and diet. He said our other work would have limited effect otherwise. The healing therapies we engaged included directed breathing exercises, meditation, inventorying love relationships, and just talking through my limiting beliefs and my assumptions/misconceptions about myself and others. Most of the limiting beliefs were manifestations of survival skills developed in response to childhood trauma. Seeing it that way made it simple (not easy) to leave all that shit in the past and write a new future for myself.

That said, when it comes to medication, it's kind of like Russian Roulette. The documented side effects of SSRI-based antidepressants of suicide and homicide are catastrophic when the subject has a co-morbid disorder or perhaps genetic distinctiveness making them susceptible those side effects. There's no way to screen if a subject is prone to those effects, and basically there is no screening at all (similar to your own experience -- it was a "No Brainer") to determine if someone is clinically depressed. Such a diagnosis is achieved through non-invasive, casual observation, and is far from perfect.

If we have someone check our teeth and gums a couple times a year just to clean out the gunk and make sure everything is ok, why wouldn't we do the same for our (arguably) most important organ?

That's what you meant, right? The most important organ, the kidney?

For this reason, the vast majority of "good' therapists, in this market anyhow, choose to not accept below-market rates.

That may be because they aren't allowed to.