Effective date: May 25, 2026.
shariqrefai.com is a physician-led educational and publishing platform. Content that touches on mental health, psychiatry, medication, diagnosis, or clinical reasoning is subject to medical review before publication and is re-reviewed when the underlying evidence base changes. This page names who performs that review, what standards they apply, and how the process is documented.
Editor in Chief and Medical Reviewer
Shariq Refai, MD, MBA
Dr. Refai is a board-eligible psychiatrist, founder of shrinkMD, and the author of the books published through shrinkMD Publishing. He serves as editor in chief and primary medical reviewer for this website. In that role he is responsible for the final clinical accuracy, framing, and editorial judgment of every page on shariqrefai.com, including pages on which he had AI assistance for drafting, structural revision, or copyediting.
See the About page for full credentials and the Disclosures page for his ownership and editorial relationships across shrinkMD, shrinQ, Unstuck, and shrinkMD Publishing.
Current Reviewer Roster
As of the effective date above, the medical review board consists of Dr. Refai as editor in chief and sole standing reviewer. As the network grows, the board will be expanded with additional licensed clinicians whose names, credentials, and disclosures will be listed publicly on this page. Until that expansion is complete, this page should be read as a statement of the current single-reviewer structure, not a claim of a multi-clinician board.
What Gets Reviewed
Content reviewed before publication or significant revision includes:
- Essays and perspectives that touch on psychiatric or psychological topics.
- Frameworks, models, and explanatory diagrams used to describe mental health concepts.
- Glossary entries and FAQ answers that describe symptoms, conditions, or treatments.
- Books published through shrinkMD Publishing and any companion materials linked from this site.
- Quizzes, screening prompts, or interactive tools (none of which currently exist on this site; see Community Guidelines for the standard that will apply when they do).
- Any content drafted with substantial AI assistance, per the AI Use Policy.
Content that does not require medical review includes purely administrative pages (privacy, terms, contact mechanics) and promotional or biographical pages that do not make clinical claims.
Review Standards
Medical review on this site evaluates content against the following standards:
- Evidence alignment. Clinical claims are checked against the evidence hierarchy described on the Evidence Methodology page, with stronger evidence given more weight than expert opinion.
- Calibrated language. Certainty in the writing should not exceed certainty in the evidence. Reviewers flag overclaiming, false equivalence, and causal language where only association is supported.
- No individualized advice. Reviewers ensure content reads as general educational commentary, not as individualized diagnosis or treatment of any reader, in accordance with the Educational Disclaimer.
- Safety framing. Content involving suicide, self-harm, eating disorders, substance use, psychosis, or other higher-risk topics is reviewed for appropriate safety language, crisis resources, and avoidance of harmful detail.
- Conflict of interest. Where content relates to shrinkMD, shrinQ, Unstuck, shrinkMD Publishing, or any other Refai-owned venture, the relationship is disclosed inline or on the Disclosures page.
- Source transparency. Substantive clinical claims are accompanied by sources where practical, and reviewers flag content that depends on unsourced assertions.
How AI Fits Into Review
AI tools may be used for drafting, organization, summarization, grammar, and editorial workflow. AI tools do not independently publish content. Medical content undergoes human review and editorial oversight before publication. AI does not replace human review, medical judgment, diagnosis, or treatment decisions. See the AI Use Policy for the full position.
Re-Review and Corrections
Reviewed content is not frozen. Pages are re-reviewed when:
- New high-quality evidence (such as a major meta-analysis, systematic review, or regulatory action) changes the picture.
- Clinical guidelines from a recognized body are updated in a way that affects the recommendation or explanation.
- A reader, clinician, or researcher submits a correction request via the Corrections Policy that, on review, is substantiated.
- A factual or framing error is identified internally.
Material updates to reviewed content are noted on the page, in keeping with the corrections and versioning standards on the Corrections page.
Reviewer Independence
The medical review function on this site is editorially independent of advertising, sponsorship, and commercial partnerships. shariqrefai.com does not accept paid placement, sponsored editorial, or advertorial content. Where Dr. Refai has a financial interest in a topic (for example, content that references shrinkMD, shrinQ, Unstuck, or his books), the interest is disclosed and the review applies the same standards as any other piece. See the Disclosures page for the full inventory of relationships.
How to Reach the Medical Review Board
Questions about a specific clinical claim, requests for the reviewer of record on a given page, or formal correction submissions can be sent to corrections@shariqrefai.com or via the contact page.
For media inquiries about the review process itself, please use the Media Inquiries page rather than the corrections inbox.
Crisis Resources
This page describes how content is reviewed. It is not clinical care. If you are in crisis or feel unsafe, call or text 988 in the United States, call 911, or go to the nearest emergency room. Outside the United States, contact your local emergency services.