One of the world’s most widely recommended antidepressant, Paxil, is also known by its generic name paroxetine hydrochloride. Yet, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released Paxil warnings and authorized only a few indications to guarantee safety of its users. In a given year, millions of Paxil prescriptions are written to treat those problems.
Paxil is an antidepressant belonging to the group called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). It has been accredited by the FDA to be given on the following conditions:
Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). Depression may be described as a feeling of sadness, or misery or downs in the dumps and this is a feeling most of us normally experience over a short duration. On the other hand, major depressive disorder or true clinical depression is a mood disorder in which the feeling of sadness or the state of low mood extends for 2 weeks or more that it already affects a person’s family work or school life, sleeping and eating habits, and general health. Within a year, not less than 13 million Americans will experience a depressive disorder.
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). OCD is a type of anxiety disorder where there are intrusive thoughts (obsessions) that cause worry, apprehension or fear which may be accompanied with repetitive behaviors (compulsions) in an attempt to reduce the related anxiety. Patients with illness may develop “rituals” like too much hand washing, cleaning, counting, or checking in an attempt the drive these obsessive thoughts away. OCD is also very prevalent, occurring to 1 in every 50 adults in the United States.
Panic disorder. Panic disorder is suffered by about 6 million Americans where it is twice as common in women as in men. It is an anxiety disorder where one may experience severe episodes of panic attacks. During a panic attack, one may experience rapid heartbeat, excessive sweating, dizziness, dyspnea, uncontrollable fear and hyperventilation that typically last for 10 minutes.
Social anxiety disorder. Social phobia is described as a marked and unrelenting fear of one or more situations that may involve scrutiny or judgment by others like a performance or social events. Despite understanding that their fears may be too much or unreasonable, they may never be able to prevail over social phobia on their own.
Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). GAD is a series of frequent, uncontrollable, irrepressible and often irrational anxiety about many different activities or events. PTSD, on the other hand, is classified as a severe anxiety disorder that emerged after experiencing a traumatic incident that may involve a threat of injury or death causing psychological trauma.