Major Depressive Disorder across the Shrink Network.
The most common diagnosis in mental health, covered in seven layers.
Reviewed by Shariq Refai, MD, MBA
Major depressive disorder is the most common diagnosis in mental health and one of the most heterogeneous. The category contains people whose depression looks like crushing physical heaviness and people whose depression looks like high-functioning competence with a constant inner emptiness. It contains people who respond to the first medication they try and people who go through five before finding remission. Coverage of this condition has to be broad because the condition itself is broad.
Each site in the Shrink Network covers major depression from a different angle. Shrinkopedia provides the clinical encyclopedia. DepressionResource provides the lived-experience practical layer. AnxietyResearch covers the evidence. PsychiatryRx covers every medication used. shrinQ addresses the cognitive patterns. shrinkMD provides telepsychiatry care. Shariq Refai's essays add the long-form reflective layer.
This cluster page is the most-trafficked entry point into depression across the network. If you arrived here from a search, the question of where to go next depends on what part of depression you're trying to understand. The seven layers below are the network's full coverage in one place.
Shrinkopedia
Major Depressive Disorder
The clinical encyclopedia entry. DSM-5-TR criteria, prevalence, course, the symptom variations inside the diagnosis, and the treatments with evidence.
Read on Shrinkopedia →DepressionResource
Depression Types and the 'I feel…' Start Here page
The practical layer. High-functioning depression, depression with anxiety, depression and grief, postpartum, seasonal: the patterns that depression actually takes, and the lived-experience guidance for each.
Open DepressionResource →AnxietyResearch
Antidepressants and behavioral activation for MDD
The evidence layer. What the major trials (STAR*D, STEP-BD) actually say about sequencing antidepressants and combining medication with behavioral activation.
Open AnxietyResearch →PsychiatryRx
Antidepressants, side by side
The medication layer. SSRIs, SNRIs, atypicals, mood stabilizers used in depression: what each class does, the timelines, and how clinicians sequence them.
Open PsychiatryRx →shrinQ
When the rumination is the problem
The pattern layer. Depression often runs on rumination, the same conclusion, reached repeatedly, without progress. shrinQ addresses the rumination loop directly.
Open shrinQ →shrinkMD
Depression care at shrinkMD
The care option. Board-certified telepsychiatry for depression, including the augmentation and next-line options when first-line antidepressants haven't worked.
Get care at shrinkMD →shariqrefai.com
Long-form essays on depression and recovery
The reflective layer. Essays on what depression takes, what recovery actually feels like, and the slow work of returning to a life that the cluster had hollowed out.
Read essays →Depression is one of the most well-studied conditions in medicine, and most cases respond to treatment when treatment is sequenced thoughtfully and given enough time. The cluster above is the network's full coverage in one place, so the path from "I think I'm depressed" to "I'm getting the right help" doesn't require digging through dozens of disconnected sites.