Focus on paroxetine

Focus on paroxetine

Green B

Current Medical Research And Opinion

2003

Humans; Treatment Outcome; Drug Interactions; Animals; Antidepressive Agents; Stress Disorders; Anxiety Disorders/drug therapy; Depression/drug therapy; Paroxetine/administration & dosage/adverse effects/pharmacokinetics/therapeutic use; Post-Traumatic/drug therapy; Second-Generation/administration & dosage/adverse effects/pharmacokinetics/therapeutic use; Serotonin Uptake Inhibitors/administration & dosage/adverse effects/pharmacokinetics/therapeutic use; Substance Withdrawal Syndrome

This review of paroxetine is based on Medline and PsycLit searches and a manual search of the available research literature. It aims to cover the pharmacology of this frequently prescribed SSRI antidepressant in terms of its indications, efficacy and adverse effects. Overall, paroxetine is a well-tolerated and safe first-line SSRI antidepressant with anxiolytic qualities. It has been found useful in depression, anxiety and other conditions such as obsessive compulsive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder. The antidepressant has some advantages over earlier tricyclic medication in terms of a lack of cardiovascular side-effects and relative safety in overdose. Cessation of use, however, is associated with withdrawal or discontinuation symptoms and patients should be counselled as to how these might be avoided. A 3- or 4-week graded withdrawal regimen, perhaps with concomitant fluoxetine to cover serotonergic discontinuation symptoms, may be advisable.

2003

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