Besides being a major therapeutic advance, the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) have become important tools in basic and clinical brain research. They were the first drugs to establish beyond doubt a pathophysiological role for serotonin (5-HT) in affective illnesses and in the...

Citalopram fluoxetine fluvoxamine, paroxetine and sertraline are the five antidepressants which are known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). Their clinical efficacy, good tolerance and safety have been demonstrated in many studies and some of them may also be prescribed...

The introduction of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) has radically changed the treatment of depression worldwide. The five currently marketed SSRIs, fluoxetine, sertraline, paroxetine, fluvoxamine and citalopram were accepted by international regulatory agencies because these...

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), whilst initially launched solely as antidepressants, have been used increasingly as treatments for other disorders and in patients who are vulnerable to the adverse effects of other antidepressants. This chapter examines the role of SSRIs in two...

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) have considerable advantages over earlier antidepressants, such as most tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs) and monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs), but like all drugs they also have adverse effects. Advantages of SSRIs include: greater tolerability...

Human sexual dysfunction is described in ICD-101 under broad categories, reflecting the pragmatic division of the normal sexual response, into phases of desire, arousal, orgasm and resolution: F52 Sexual dysfunction, not caused by organic disorder or disease, F52.0 Lack or loss of sexual desire,...

The selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) have increased in popularity and extent of use since their introduction. At the same time, our knowledge concerning the relationship between suicide and depression has increased. The impact of this group of drugs on this knowledge has been...

The discovery in the 1950s that imipramine and iproniazid had antidepressant properties was soon followed by the recognition that they acted on monoamine systems. This laid the foundation for two interrelated but logically distinct theories which have dominated biological research into depression...

The term ‘SSRIs’ encompasses several chemical agents that have in common their ability to inhibit selectively the function of the serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine, 5-HT) transporter. This is located on the membranes of serotonergic and glial cells of the brain and other cells outside the...

The selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are a chemically diverse group of compounds which share the characteristic of potently inhibiting neuronal reuptake of serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine, 5-HT). As their name suggests, the antidepressant effects of SSRIs are widely attributed to...

The introduction of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) into medical treatment in the 1980s revolutionized psychiatric practice and fueled the interest in the role of serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine, 5-HT) in the underlying neurobiology of the psychiatric disorders. In reviewing...

It is interesting to note that in the title of their review on fluoxetine (‘Prozac’, Lilly), Wong, Bymaster and Engleman describe this drug as “the first selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor.” Like much of the subject, this claim owes rather more to perpetuating public perception than...