Books by Shariq Refai, MD, MBA, Educational Books on Anxiety, Overthinking, and Emotional Health
Authored and editorially reviewed by Shariq Refai, MD, MBA, board-certified psychiatrist · last reviewed
The Books in Brief
Shariq Refai's upcoming books explore anxiety, overthinking, panic, and the patterns that keep people mentally stuck, written from the perspective of a board-certified psychiatrist with fifteen years of clinical practice. The first book is Your Mind Is Full of Sh*t, with a companion workbook and a follow-up reset framework called The Havoc in Your Head.
Why These Books Exist
Most mental health books fall into one of two camps. The clinical ones are written for clinicians. The popular ones are written for the bestseller list. The first group is unreadable for the people who actually need help. The second group is full of language that falls apart the moment a real anxious brain tries to use it.
Dr. Refai's books are written for the third group. The reader who's already tried the apps. Already read the books. Already done the worksheets. The reader who's tired of being told to "just breathe" and watching that advice fail in the exact moment it was supposed to help. Each book is a working framework, written by a psychiatrist, in plain language, for the modern brain that won't shut off.
Your Mind Is Full of Sh*t
A psychiatrist's guide to understanding overthinking, anxiety, and the lies in your head.
What it's about
The book takes the four lies most modern adults absorbed without choosing them. Control. Productivity. Positivity. Happiness. Each one looks reasonable from a distance and runs lives into the ground up close. Each chapter names the lie, shows the wiring underneath it, and gives you small repeatable practices that meet the body where it actually is. There's no manifesting. No five-step morning routine. No promises that you'll be happy if you wake up at four. Just the patterns Dr. Refai has watched run people's lives for fifteen years, written down honestly.
Who it's for
The reader who's high-functioning on paper and exhausted in their own head. The executive who can't slow down. The parent who can't sleep. The student who's done the reading and still can't quiet the noise. The person who's been told they're "an anxious person" and is starting to wonder if that's a permanent identity. (It isn't.)
What you'll learn
How to tell a thought from thinking, why your nervous system reads the absence of work as danger, what soggy shoes have to do with chronic stress, why the high-performer pattern is a wiring problem and not a personality, what actually quiets a vigilant body, and how to live a life that fits you instead of one you keep auditioning for.
The Workbook
Your Mind Is Full of Sh*t: The Workbook
A psychiatrist's companion guide for noticing patterns in how you think, feel, and act.
What it's about
The workbook isn't a journal with prompts you've seen before. It's a structured set of reflective exercises drawn from years of clinical observation, translated into something you can actually use on your own. Where in your body does your weather live? Which of the four lies has the loudest grip on you right now? What's in your invisible backpack that doesn't belong there? Each exercise is small. The cumulative effect is what changes the relationship.
Who it's for
Readers of the first book who want to go deeper, and anyone who learns better by writing than by reading alone. Use it alongside the main book or on its own. There's no order requirement.
What you'll learn
How to recognize your own patterns in real time, name the four lies as they arrive, and translate insight into small daily moves that change the relationship over weeks rather than minutes.
The Havoc in Your Head
The Havoc in Your Head
A Psychiatrist's Reset for Anxiety, Overthinking, Panic, and the Thoughts That Won't Let Go.
What it's about
The first book is the framework. The Havoc in Your Head is the in-the-moment response. What to do when your mind has already taken over. When anxiety is at a nine. When panic hits in a grocery store. When the loop has already started and you can't think your way out of it.
Who it's for
Anyone whose mind moves faster than their nervous system can keep up with. People who already know the concepts and need a tool that works when the body is activated and thinking is offline.
What you'll learn
A four-step reset that runs in under sixty seconds, designed for the part of the day when you actually need help, not the part where you're calmly reading. Repeatable. Portable. Built for real life.
About shrinkMD Publishing
shrinkMD Publishing is the imprint behind Dr. Refai's books. The mission is to release educational frameworks and literary works that take psychological concepts seriously, written by clinicians, for the general public. Not pop psychology. Not wellness fluff. Real ideas, written in plain language, with the disclaimers and the science the topic actually deserves.
shrinkMD Publishing operates as an independent imprint focused on the intersection of clinical practice and public literacy.
Which Book to Start With
If you're new to the work
Start with Your Mind Is Full of Sh*t. It lays out the framework everything else builds on.
If you want to put the ideas into practice
Add the companion workbook. It turns the concepts into short, repeatable daily exercises.
If you need something for the worst moments
Read The Havoc in Your Head. It's a four-step reset for the part of the day when you actually need help.
Companion Reading
While the books are in production, these essays cover the same ideas in shorter form.
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Books FAQ
- When will the books be released?
- All three books are scheduled for release in 2026 through shrinkMD Publishing.
- Will there be audiobooks?
- Audiobook details will be announced alongside print and ebook release.
- How will the books be distributed?
- Distribution will be announced as release approaches. Sign up for notifications to be told first.
- Are sample chapters available?
- Sample chapters and excerpts will be made available closer to release. Press reviewers can request advance copy through the contact form.
- Are the books therapy?
- No. The books are educational and informational. They aren't therapy, psychiatric treatment, diagnosis, or individualized medical advice. For clinical care, visit shrinkmd.com.