There is no question that some of the very best - and some of the very worst - information on depression, and everything else, for that matter, is available on the Internet today.  It's usually free; all one has to do is look.  Be sure though, that until you're satisfied with the credibility of the source of the information, that you take it with at least a grain of salt.  Don't have your own computer?  Check your local library, a great many offer their members free Internet access.

 But where to look; talk about information overload. We'll see if we can't help by breaking things down into manageable groups.

 First, of course, there is the, by now, very famous worldwide web.  All one has to do is point one's browser to the URL (Uniform Resource Locator) of a good search engine, for example <http://www.hotbot.com >; type in the word depression where you're asked to indicate what topic interests you or, so you don't come up with all kinds of sites talking of the great depression that started in 1929, put quotes around clinical depression and then start the search.   Thousands of possible sites will be brought to your attention in the order in which the engine thinks they come closest to matching what you have in mind.  Read the descriptions and click on those of interest to you.  NAFDI's web page is <http://www.depression.org >.

Second, the news groups: there are tens of thousands of these and they cover every subject that ever occurred to you and a great many that not only haven't, but probably shouldn't. So, considering the huge number of groups, how does one find ones on topics of interest. Arguably the best search engine for finding stuff on topics of interest is found at a web site: <http:///www/dejanews.com > . Type in your topic, let dejanews search for you and then, either write down the names of the news groups or click on their links to get taken there immediately.  But suppose you want to look at some news group titles yourself.  In your browser, usually Netscape or Internet Explorer, go to News Groups and subscribe (it's free and you can always unsubscribe). The first time you do that, be prepared to wait as tens of thousands of news group titles are downloaded to your computer.  Then start looking.  A good place to start might be with alt.support.depression and go from there, just checking the appropriate box next to those to which you'd like to subscribe.  Then click "OK".  The next time you go to your news reader, click on the + sign next to your news groups and the titles you have chosen will appear along with the number of messages in each group.  It will even keep track for you of those messages you've read and those you haven't.

 There are three types of newsgoups: unmoderated ones where everyone posts what ever (s)he likes and you can lurk, read, but not post, or post away to your heart's content, either answering others or initiating topics or both and moderated ones where everyone sends all proposed posts to the moderator who decides what should be posted and what should not be. Some of this type actually deliver all posts to you via email, once you've subscribed and others just get posted in a manner similar to that of the unmoderated groups.  Lastly, there are news groups which are selective and/or require some particular qualification before allowing you to subscribe.

Take your time, look around, as per the old Cunard Shipping Lines' slogan, Getting there is half the fun!