The SSRI Problem: Moving Past Monoamines

Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors have been the first-line treatment for depression for nearly two decades now, with the introduction of Prozac, which often gets the credit as the first SSRI, though it was merely the first marketed SSRI, not the first discovered SSRI (zimelidine holds that honor), it still holds the title as the drug that reolutionized psychopharmacological treatment of depression and, twenty years later, other disorders such as anxiety, panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder and others. SSRIs have a modest side effect profile (though not too modest, as we will see), and produce symptom relief in about 55% or more of patients, an acceptable, though not stellar, efficacy profile.

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