Paxil

Paroxetine is an anti-depressant drug that affects the chemicals that nerves in the brain use to communicate with one another. These chemical messengers, called neurotransmitters, are released by one nerve and taken up by other nerves. Neurotransmitters that are released but not taken up by other nerves are taken up by the nerves that release them ("reuptake"). Many experts believe that it is an imbalance among the amounts of the different neurotransmitters that are released that causes depression. Paroxetine works by inhibiting the reuptake of serotonin by the nerves that release it, an action which allows more serotonin to be available to be taken up by other nerves. Paroxetine is in a class of drugs called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), a class that also contains fluoxetine (Prozac) and sertraline (Zoloft).

Paxil is an agent in a newer class of antidepressant medication known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). Depression and anxiety disorders might be caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain. One of these chemicals is serotonin, which helps send electrical signals from one nerve cell to another. In the process, serotonin is released from one nerve cell (the sender) and travels to the next (the receiver), where it is either absorbed or returns back to the original sender cell.