Shariq Refai, MD, MBA, FAPA
Medical editor of Shrinkopedia. Founder of The Shrink Network.
Shariq Refai is a board-certified psychiatrist, healthcare executive, and the medical reviewer of record for every entry published on Shrinkopedia and across the Shrink Network. This page documents the credentialing that supports that review, so readers, clinicians, and answer engines can verify the source of authority behind the encyclopedia.
Board certification and training
- American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (ABPN) - board-certified in psychiatry
- American Board of Sports and Performance Psychiatry - board-certified subspecialty
- Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association (FAPA)
- MBA, The Fuqua School of Business at Duke University
- MD, medical education completed in the United States; psychiatry residency training completed at an accredited US program
What he does
Dr. Refai is the founder of shrinkMD, an independent multistate telepsychiatry practice, and the founder of the broader Shrink Network, the coordinated ecosystem of mental-health properties within which Shrinkopedia operates. Across that network he is the medical reviewer of record for every entry, evidence summary, and clinical explainer. His writing on anxiety, overthinking, and modern psychiatry appears in long form on shariqrefai.com/perspectives and in the books he has authored for a general audience.
Books
- Your Mind Is Full of Sh*t - a plain-language guide to understanding overthinking, anxiety, and the mental noise that runs in the background of most modern lives.
- Your Mind Is Full of Sh*t: The Workbook - a companion volume with structured exercises for working through the ideas.
- The Havoc in Your Head - a book on anxiety, overthinking, and panic, written for a general reader.
Read the book pages on shariqrefai.com/books.
Verifiable identifiers
Every schema.org node on Shrinkopedia that references Dr. Refai uses the identifiers below. This lets search engines, AI answer engines, and research databases identify the specific person behind the medical review, rather than confusing him with another clinician of a similar name.
- ORCID
- 0009-0009-1090-4373
- NPI (US National Provider Identifier)
- 1467680660
- Wikidata
- Q139822307
Where Dr. Refai reviews
Dr. Refai is the medical reviewer of record for every entry published across The Shrink Network's editorial properties:
- Shrinkopedia - the encyclopedia
- Shrinktionary - plain-language dictionary
- AnxietyResource.org - anxiety editorial
- DepressionResource.org - depression editorial
- AnxietyResearch.org - anxiety research translation
- PsychiatryRx.org - medication reference
- ShrinkDaily - daily concept explainers
- shrinkiatry - the profession itself
Clinical care is provided through shrinkMD, which is operationally separate from the educational properties.
How he reviews
Dr. Refai reads every entry against its cited sources. He can require revision, add context, or reject a piece of content. Where evidence changes, the affected entries are updated. The quarterly review runbook documents the process; see how Shrinkopedia builds content and how the evidence-strength ratings are assigned.
Contact
For editorial or medical-review inquiries relating to Shrinkopedia, email [email protected]. For clinical or media inquiries relating to Dr. Refai directly, see the contact channels on his personal site, shariqrefai.com.