Help make mental-health language clearer.

Most mental-health writing online is either too clinical to follow or too loose to trust. Shrinktionary exists to sit in the middle: accurate enough for a professional, plain enough for anyone. Keeping it there takes people who actually know the material. That's where contributors come in.

Who we're looking for

Contributions are open to people whose expertise is real and verifiable. That generally means:

• Psychiatrists (MD or DO) and psychiatric nurse practitioners (PMHNP)
• Clinical, counseling, or health psychologists (PhD or PsyD)
• Licensed therapists and clinical social workers (LCSW, LPC, LMFT, and equivalents)
• Pharmacists and clinical pharmacologists, for medication vocabulary
• Researchers with a graduate degree in a relevant field and a publication record
• Other credentialed subject-matter experts whose expertise is verifiable and relevant to a specific term

You don't need all of mental health in your head. Most contributors work in one corner of it, the medications they prescribe, the therapy they practice, the disorder they research, and review or write the terms they know cold.

What contributing looks like

Two ways to help. You can write a new definition in your area, in plain language, with sources. Or you can review an existing entry for accuracy and currency and tell us what to fix. Either way it's a small, well-defined unit of work: one term, done properly, not an open-ended assignment.

The standard everything is held to

• Plain English first. If a smart 16-year-old couldn't follow it, it isn't done.
• Evidence-based, and sourced. Claims trace to primary or authoritative sources: clinical guidelines, the FDA, NIMH and other government bodies, or peer-reviewed research. Not blogs, not marketing pages, not memory.
• Neutral. Definitions describe; they don't sell a treatment, a product, or a provider.
• Within the lane. Shrinktionary defines the word and routes deeper. It isn't the place for full condition guides or treatment plans.
• Conflicts disclosed. If you have a financial or professional interest touching a term, tell us up front.

You can read the full process on our editorial standards, sources, and editorial strategy pages before you commit to anything.

What you get, honestly

Shrinktionary is independent and ad-free, so this isn't paid. What it offers instead:

• A named byline and a short professional bio on the entries you write or review, with a link to your own site or profile.
• A citable publication credit. List it on your CV or website as a contribution to, or editorial review for, a medically reviewed mental-health reference.
• Your work inside a network reviewed by a board-certified psychiatrist, held to a documented evidence standard.
• A genuinely useful thing to have made: clearer language for the millions of people who meet these words at the worst possible moment.

And to be straight about the boundaries: we don't pay, we don't guarantee publication, we don't run sponsored or promotional entries, and we don't trade links for content. The bio link is ordinary author attribution that comes with real editorial work, nothing more and nothing less.

How review works

Nothing you send publishes automatically. Every contribution is edited for plain language and checked for accuracy and sourcing, and clinical content is signed off by the medical editor before it goes live. We may edit, ask for more evidence, or decline. That's what keeps the byline worth having.

How to get started

Email [email protected] with the subject line "Contributor application" and tell us:

• your name and credentials, with a way to verify them (a license number, an institutional page, a professional profile, or a link to your CV);
• the area you'd want to write or review in;
• and, if you'd like, one term you think we've explained poorly, or should add, and how you'd fix it.

That last part is optional, but it's the fastest way to show us how you think about the words.