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DepressionResource.org

Press and media

Press and media inquiries

DepressionResource.org is an independent educational publication on depression, written and reviewed by a board-certified psychiatrist. This page collects resources for journalists, producers, fact checkers, and editors: a bio, verified credentials, areas the editor can speak to on background, and a direct contact line.

Headshot of Shariq Refai, MD, MBA, board-certified psychiatrist.

Download headshot. Free for editorial use with credit to Shariq Refai, MD, MBA / DepressionResource.org.

Short bio (50 words)

Shariq Refai, MD, MBA is a board-certified psychiatrist with more than 15 years of clinical experience. He is the editor and named medical reviewer of DepressionResource.org and AnxietyResource.org, and the author of three books on mental health for the general reader.

Long bio (120 words)

Shariq Refai, MD, MBA is a board-certified psychiatrist with more than 15 years of clinical experience. His work focuses on adult psychiatry, with deep experience in mood disorders, anxiety disorders, treatment-resistant depression, and the practical realities of medication management in routine practice. He serves as the editor and named medical reviewer of DepressionResource.org and its sister publication AnxietyResource.org, where every clinical page is written and reviewed under his name against current clinical guidelines and peer-reviewed literature. He is the author of three books on mental health written for the general reader, and the founder of shrinkMD, a telepsychiatry practice. His financial interest in that practice is disclosed in full on the About page.

Verified profiles

Areas of expertise

  • Major depressive disorder, persistent depressive disorder, and treatment-resistant depression
  • Antidepressant medications (SSRIs, SNRIs, bupropion, mirtazapine) including starting, switching, and stopping
  • Suicide prevention, safety planning, and crisis response
  • Postpartum depression and perinatal mental health
  • Seasonal depression and light therapy
  • Bipolar depression and the differential with unipolar depression
  • Anxiety disorders and their overlap with depression
  • Telepsychiatry, access to care, and the economics of mental health treatment
  • Mental health in physicians, executives, and high-functioning adults

Ready-to-use expert quotes

The following statements are written by Dr. Refai and are free for editorial use with attribution to Shariq Refai, MD, MBA, board-certified psychiatrist and editor of DepressionResource.org. For a custom quote on a specific story, see the contact details below.

On the prevalence of depression

“About 8 percent of U.S. adults experience a major depressive episode in any given year, and roughly one in five will at some point in their lives. It is a common medical condition, not a character flaw.”

On starting an antidepressant

“Antidepressants take time. Most people start to notice changes in two to six weeks, with sleep, appetite, and energy often shifting before mood does. The first medication tried is not always the right one, and that is not a failure of the patient or the prescriber.”

On the overlap of depression and anxiety

“About half of people with depression also meet criteria for an anxiety disorder. The two travel together often enough that any thoughtful evaluation screens for both, even when only one is the presenting complaint.”

On suicide and crisis response

“A safety plan written with a clinician, and kept somewhere a person can actually find it during a crisis, is one of the better-studied interventions in suicide prevention. It is a piece of paper that has saved lives.”

On stigma and the language of depression

“When we describe depression in plain language, without the noise and without the moralizing, more people recognize themselves in the description and more people get to care sooner.”

Story angles we can support

  • Plain-language explainers on a specific antidepressant, side effect, or withdrawal pattern
  • What a real psychiatric evaluation looks like, and what patients should expect
  • Differentiating sadness, grief, burnout, and clinical depression
  • The shortage of psychiatrists, telepsychiatry access, and what is actually changing
  • Suicide prevention, safety planning, and what loved ones can do
  • Mental health in physicians, executives, founders, and other high-functioning adults
  • The depression and anxiety overlap, and why screening for both matters
  • Postpartum depression and perinatal mental health

Source material on this site

Reporters writing on background may find these reference pages useful:

Contact

For interviews, fact checking, background, or quoted commentary, email press@depressionresource.org. We respond to press inquiries within one business day where possible.

For corrections to published content, see our corrections policy. For general editorial mail and other contact channels, see the contact page.

Sister publication

For stories specifically on anxiety, panic, generalized anxiety disorder, or the cycle of overthinking, see our sister publication AnxietyResource.org. It is edited by the same physician reviewer and follows the same editorial standards.

Usage and credit

Excerpts of up to 200 words from any page on this site may be reproduced for news reporting with a visible credit and a working link back to the source page on DepressionResource.org. Longer reproductions and full-text syndication require written permission. The headshot above is free for editorial use with credit to Shariq Refai, MD, MBA / DepressionResource.org.

Every clinical page on DepressionResource.org is written in plain language, dated, and reviewed by a board-certified psychiatrist against current clinical guidelines. See our editorial standards and medical review process.