Medical review

Every clinical entry on Shrinktionary is reviewed by Shariq Refai, MD, MBA, FAPA, a board certified psychiatrist licensed in multiple states, before it's published. The reviewer's name and the date of the most recent review appear on every entry, so you always know who stands behind what you're reading and how current it is.

Who reviews the content

Dr. Refai is a Diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and is also board certified by the American Board of Sports and Performance Psychiatry. He is a Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, which is what the FAPA after his name means. He is the founder and medical director of shrinkMD, the clinical practice in The Shrink Network, where he sees patients. That day-to-day clinical work is part of why the entries are written the way a doctor would actually explain something to a patient, rather than the way a textbook would. You can read more about his background on shariqrefai.com or his shrinkMD profile.

How often entries are reviewed

Review isn't a one-time event. Every entry on Shrinktionary is re-reviewed on a quarterly cycle, and each one carries two dates: the day it was first published, and the day it was last reviewed. The second date is the one that matters, and it's why we show it.

A quarterly review isn't a skim. Every entry gets reread against its sources, and every citation gets checked to confirm it still resolves and still supports the specific claim it's attached to. We look for guidance that has changed, drugs that have picked up new warnings, and language that has quietly drifted back toward jargon. The legal and safety pages get checked by hand, including every number and link on the crisis page, because a dead crisis link isn't a broken link, it's a person who didn't get help.

We won't move a review date without doing the reading. A date that says a psychiatrist looked at something, when no psychiatrist looked at it, is worse than no date at all. If a substantive claim turns out to be wrong, the fix and the reason are published on our corrections page rather than edited in silently.

Featured in

Health and mental health publications regularly cite Dr. Refai as an expert source. A few examples:

• Top Doctor Magazine profiled him on his path into psychiatry, athlete mental health, and treatment-resistant depression.
• The Epoch Times quoted him on research-backed, natural approaches to depression.
• EatingWell quoted him on how stress affects digestion, the gut-brain connection.
• DomesticShelters.org quoted him on how isolation is used in abuse and its effect on mental health.

What review actually checks

Review is not a formality. Before an entry goes live, it's checked for several things. First, accuracy: does the definition reflect current clinical consensus from sources like the DSM-5-TR, the National Institute of Mental Health, and the peer-reviewed literature? Second, currency: is anything out of date, and do the cited sources still say what the entry claims? Third, safety: does the entry handle sensitive topics, like suicide, self-harm, medications, and crisis, responsibly, with the right caveats and no detail that could cause harm? Fourth, clarity and tone: is the plain-English explanation actually plain, and is the language non-stigmatizing and person-first? An entry that doesn't pass these checks is revised or held back.

What review does not mean

Review confirms that an entry is accurate, current, and clinically appropriate as general education. It does not create a doctor-patient relationship with anyone who reads it. Reading a reviewed entry is not the same as being evaluated, diagnosed, or treated. Two people with similar symptoms can have different conditions that need different care, and only a clinician who can evaluate your specific situation can tell you what applies to you. Shrinktionary explains the words. The diagnosis and the treatment plan are between you and your clinician.

How updates work

Mental health language and evidence change. When a source updates its guidance, or when we find an error, the entry is revised, reviewed again, and the "Last reviewed" date is moved forward. Substantive changes are logged on our corrections page. You can read the full process behind every entry on our editorial standards page, and the kinds of sources we rely on on our sources page.

Conflict of interest statement

Dr. Refai founded and operates shrinkMD, a private psychiatric practice in The Shrink Network. He doesn't accept funding from pharmaceutical companies, doesn't sell ad placements on Shrinktionary, and doesn't earn referral fees from any external service mentioned on this site. Decisions about what to include and how to describe it are editorial, made on the evidence. The full disclosure is on our disclosures page.