Close to Kirksville/Macon county. So, Northern/NE Missouri.
She seems to be deeply enough into her depression that paranoia is setting in; she recently showed me a bird she drew, I said: “I didn’t know you could draw. It’s nice” and she replied: “It’s not in focus so you can’t tell if it’s nice and I think you’re being patronizing and offensive, maybe intentionally.”
I found a couple lists of sliding scale mental health facilities in her area with a simple Google search:
http://www.nmrhn.org/carelink/listproviders.asp?providerType=Counseling+%26+Mental+Health+Services
http://www.freemedicalsearch.org/sta/missouri
Online resources like these are a good place to start. If she’s feeling overwhelmed by the possibility of calling around to a bunch of places, you can call some of them to gather information for her. Let them know that you’re calling for a friend who is very low-income and doesn’t have health insurance, but would like to be evaluated for potential depression (or whatever you know of her situation). You should ask to make sure they actually are sliding-scale or free clinics, since these websites can be out of date). You should ask if they are accepting new patients. You can also ask how far out their next available appointments are, try to obtain a price list or verbal estimate based on her income, that kind of thing.
Re: the paranoia: If her interactions with you continue down a negative path, it’s okay to be straight with her. it’s perfectly reasonable to push back against abuse. “That was uncalled-for. You don’t really think that do you? That really hurt my feelings,” etc. If she doesn’t treat you better after a few such conversations, you can tell her she’s not acting like a very good friend and slow/stop interacting with her until she seeks help for her condition.
Don’t let her drag you down with her, essentially. And don’t enable her to act out by pretending it doesn’t affect you. That doesn’t help her OR you. It’s perfectly OK to opt out of a friendship with someone who treats you like crap and refuses to take care of themselves.
Good luck.
Another way to be straight with her is to tell her that her inability to accept a compliment is a symptom of the disease. I don’t think I’d use the word “paranoid.” I would just point out that she’s in a state of mind where she can’t see anything as positive. She thinks everything is crap, so she can’t believe you’re being sincere. I agree with Rachellelogram that you should call your friend on it when she hurts your feelings.
Depends a lot on the relationship. In general, be available, and it is better to ask questions than to rant. When my brother says “I won’t ever get another job”, if I gave him a “cheer up” speech he’d just get angry - if I ask “when have you ever thought you’d get another job?” he actually thinks and realizes that well, actually, never. I think he’s been depressive all his life (possibly bipolar, because when he’s high he’s too high as well): it’s hard to remember what “normal” feels like when your normal has always been fucked up.