The short version
PsychiatryRx is an independent reference publication about psychiatric medications. It's an educational resource. It isn't a clinic, isn't a pharmacy, isn't a substitute for an evaluation with a licensed prescriber, and doesn't establish any kind of clinician patient relationship with anyone who reads it.
If you have questions about your own medication, your own diagnosis, your own dose, your own side effects, or whether to start, stop, switch, or change anything about your treatment, those questions belong with a licensed prescriber who knows your situation. The information on this site can help you ask better questions. It can't replace the answer.
What PsychiatryRx is
A reference site. We cover the psychiatric medications people are most commonly prescribed. Each medication entry explains what the medication is, what class it belongs to, what conditions it's typically prescribed for, how it works in plain language, what the first weeks usually look like, the side effect profile, the dosing range, and what to think about if it's working or not.
Every clinical entry is medically reviewed by Shariq Refai, MD, MBA, a board certified psychiatrist, before publication. The reviewer's name, credentials, and review date are on every entry. The full editorial process is at Editorial Standards. The evidence framework is at Evidence Methodology. Corrections we make are logged at Corrections.
The site is part of the Shrink Network. Shrinkopedia is the clinical encyclopedia. AnxietyResource and DepressionResource cover the practical layer for those conditions. ShrinkDaily teaches one evidence-based concept about how the mind works each day. shrinkMD is the telepsychiatry option. We cover medications.
What PsychiatryRx isn't
Not a clinic. Reading an entry on PsychiatryRx doesn't get you a diagnosis, a prescription, a refill, a dose change, a medication switch, or any other clinical service. We can't see you, can't review your full history, can't check the medications you're already on, can't test your blood levels, can't take into account the medical conditions you have, and can't follow up to see how things go.
Not a pharmacy. We don't dispense medications. We don't sell medications. If a brand name on this site links to an outside source, that source isn't part of PsychiatryRx and we don't endorse it as a substitute for working with a licensed prescriber and a licensed pharmacy.
Not a doctor patient relationship. Reading this site doesn't create a relationship between you and Shariq Refai, the editorial team, shrinkMD Publishing, or any provider mentioned in any entry. We can't respond to personal clinical questions by email, message, or comment. If you need clinical care, you need a clinician.
Not a substitute for emergency care. If you're having a medical or psychiatric emergency, call 911 or go to the nearest emergency department. If you've taken too much of a medication or had an unintended overdose, call Poison Control at 1-800-222-1222. If you're thinking about suicide or self harm, call or text 988. The full crisis routing is on the Suicide and Crisis Resources page.
Why this matters with medications
Psychiatric medications are powerful tools. They help millions of people every year. They're also pharmacologically active substances that interact with other medications, with alcohol, with medical conditions, with pregnancy, with age, with body chemistry, and with each other. Two people taking the same medication at the same dose can have very different responses. One person can tolerate a medication without side effects. Another person can have a serious side effect from the same medication at the same dose.
Some of the most consequential decisions in psychiatry are about when and how to stop, switch, or change a medication. Stopping an SSRI or SNRI suddenly can cause discontinuation symptoms that range from uncomfortable to incapacitating. Stopping a benzodiazepine suddenly can be life threatening. Adding a new medication on top of an existing one can produce interactions that look like new symptoms but are actually drug effects. Lithium has a narrow therapeutic window and requires blood level monitoring. MAOIs require dietary restrictions.
What that adds up to: this isn't a category where you can read a description, make a decision, and try it. The clinician you work with knows your full medication list, your history, the conditions that brought you to treatment, the side effects you've had before, and the things that have worked for you in the past. We don't. No site can.
Changes to medication treatment without supervision can cause harm. We're saying that explicitly because we think the message matters more than we worry about sounding repetitive. If you read something on this site and it raises a question about your own medication, the answer to that question is: bring the question to your prescriber.
What we hope this site does for you
Helps you understand what you've been prescribed. Helps you understand why. Helps you understand what the next weeks usually look like. Helps you recognize side effects when they show up. Helps you know which side effects usually fade and which ones don't. Helps you know which side effects need a call to the prescriber. Helps you walk into a follow up appointment with better questions than you walked in with last time.
Helps you talk to a family member or partner about what they've been prescribed. Helps you read a discharge summary or a pharmacy printout and make sense of it. Helps you understand a comparison between two medications that have been proposed to you. The site is for understanding. The treatment is between you and your clinician.
Limitation of liability
PsychiatryRx is published by shrinkMD Publishing. The content is provided as a general educational reference. While we work to keep it accurate, current, and clearly written, we don't warrant that any specific entry is complete, error free, or current for every individual situation. Medicine and the evidence base change. We update entries on a rolling schedule and log substantive corrections at Corrections, but we can't guarantee that any given entry reflects the latest published research at the moment you read it.
By using this site, you acknowledge that PsychiatryRx, shrinkMD Publishing, Shariq Refai, the editorial team, and any contributors aren't responsible for outcomes that result from acting on information without consulting a licensed clinician. We don't accept responsibility for medication decisions made based on this site without the involvement of a qualified prescriber who knows your situation.
Nothing on this site is an offer to prescribe, dispense, or recommend any specific medication for any specific person. References to specific medications, brand names, or manufacturers are educational. No financial relationships with any pharmaceutical company are involved in the content selection or content review. The full disclosure of financial relationships, if any exist, is at Disclosures.
Updates to this disclaimer
We update this page when the editorial standards, the legal landscape, or the structure of the site changes. The most recent update date is at the top of this page. Substantive updates are logged at the Corrections page.
Contact
For editorial questions or factual corrections, email support@psychiatryrx.org with the entry URL and the specific concern. We process substantive corrections within seven days and log them at Corrections.
We can't respond to personal clinical questions by email. If you need a clinical evaluation, the Start Here page routes you to options including shrinkMD plus broader telepsychiatry and in person care.