Focus on paroxetine

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.