Short version. DepressionResource.org is written and published from the United States and is intended primarily for a U.S. audience. Readers from anywhere are welcome, but clinical specifics, regulatory references, and crisis numbers on this site are U.S.-centric and may not match what's available, recommended, or legal where you live.
What's U.S.-specific on this site
- Clinical guidelines. Pages draw most heavily on guidelines from the American Psychiatric Association (APA), the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP). Where the U.K. NICE guideline NG222 and the World Health Organization mhGAP guide are used, we say so. Other countries have their own guideline bodies. The standard of care for depression varies between them.
- Medications. Drug names, available formulations, indications, dosing ranges, boxed warnings, and Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies (REMS) reflect U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) labeling. Other regulators (the European Medicines Agency, the U.K. Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, Health Canada, the Therapeutic Goods Administration in Australia, and others) may approve different drugs, different formulations, different indications, or different warnings. Always rely on your country's prescribing information.
- Controlled substances and telemedicine prescribing. Pages that touch on remote prescribing reference U.S. law, including the Ryan Haight Act and current U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) rules. The rules for prescribing scheduled medications by telehealth differ in every other country.
- Crisis numbers. The site lists U.S. numbers (988, 741741, 911) as the default. These don't work outside the United States.
- Privacy and consumer rights. Statements about CCPA, CPRA, HIPAA, and state attorneys general are U.S.-specific. Your rights under GDPR, UK GDPR, and other regimes are described in the Privacy Policy.
- Insurance, cost, and access. Where the site discusses paying for care, coverage, or how to find a clinician, the framework assumes the U.S. health system. Public-payer systems, single-payer systems, and mixed systems work differently.
If you're outside the United States
The general clinical content (what depression is, how screening tools work, how psychotherapies and antidepressants work at a mechanistic level, what side effects look like, what to expect from treatment over time) is broadly portable. Specific recommendations, drug labeling, and crisis routing aren't. For anything that touches a clinical decision, a prescription, or a crisis response, use your country's resources and a clinician licensed where you live.
International crisis resources
If you may be in immediate danger and you're outside the United States, contact your local emergency number, a national mental health crisis line, or your nearest emergency department. A current directory of suicide-prevention helplines worldwide is maintained by the International Association for Suicide Prevention at iasp.info/resources/Crisis_Centres. Country-specific examples include Samaritans on 116 123 in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, 13 11 14 (Lifeline) in Australia, 1737 in New Zealand, 9-8-8 in Canada, 0 800 32 123 123 (Telefonseelsorge) in Germany, and the European Union\u2019s common emergency number 112. We don't maintain a complete or current list and the right number for you may differ. The IASP directory is the most reliable starting point.
No clinician-patient relationship anywhere
Reading this site, anywhere in the world, doesn't create a clinician-patient relationship with the editor, any contributor, shrinkMD Publishing Inc., or shrinkMD. The editor is licensed to practice medicine in the United States. He doesn't provide clinical care, prescriptions, or second opinions to readers of this site, in the United States or anywhere else.
International data transfer
If you visit this site from outside the United States, technical information about your visit (described in the Privacy Policy) is processed in the United States. By using the site, you understand and agree to this transfer. The legal basis for transfers from the EEA and UK is described in the same policy.
Translation
The site is published in English. Automated translations (browser tools, machine translation services) may render the words but can lose clinical nuance, change drug names, or distort dosing language. For anything that touches a clinical decision, work from the original English text and a clinician fluent in your language.
Contact
Questions about this notice can be sent to support@depressionresource.org.
Please do not include medical history, symptoms, or other protected health information in email. Email is not a secure channel and is not monitored for clinical purposes.