Ebbie, William Styron's book is Darkness Visible. Its a good read about one person's struggle with severe depression. It did knock me back though a bit because although depressed I wasn't THAT bad and therefore I didn't seek help sooner.

Yes Joerg, when taking a friend to the doctor don't make it seem as if you're saying "Well thank god you're finally here, now I can get on with my life."

I lost my old bookmarks but I used to have a link to a questionaire to find out of you have depression. You could look for something like that, inspect it yourself first, and then perhaps if your friend is visiting you and she can go through it and see what results you come up with. It might help her to see that she needs more assistance in this.