Psychiatrists are meant to help people who knows and is aware that
they have some mental problem with themselves.
The kind of issues that TS's friend faced is a social/family
issue, see psychiatrist also no use and not going to help
him...UNLESS his entire family go and visit the psychiatrists or he
just need to consult a family/social counselor.
TS's friend might as well go see a family/social
counselor.
Psychiatrist can diagnose and tell you how insane and mad you
are, but counselor can give you better advice to move on with
your life and take things easier. 
It depends on the qualification of the psychiatrist and in what
field he/she is trained in. In fact more psychiatrists in their
studies are more than capable to fulfiling the role of a counselor
and are often more effective in analysing the issue due to
extensive training.
A misnomer is that psychiatrists is meant to help people who are
aware that they have problem, which unfortunately in many cases do
not exist.
That being said, I think your friend should still go through the
normal channels via polyclinic or public hospitals since private
consultations are anything but cheap as the sessions are usually
not short and the whole program might take weeks, months or even
years (depending on the severity). Having some subsidy would be
good.
