Posted by djmmm on October 16, 2002, at 14:47:07
In reply to American Journal of Psychiatry: Paxil not an SSRI, posted by Shawn. T. on October 15, 2002, at 16:18:07
That's not really news, in fact "SSRI" is somewhat of a misnomer. All SSRIs effect other neurotransmitter systems; ironically, Prozac, the prototype SSRI, is not very selective at all.
I believe when this term was coined, med developers were attempting to distinguish between medications with a tricyclic structure, primarily effecting norepinephrine, and these "new" meds unrelated in structure, primarily effecting serotonin.
Calling Prozac, Paxil or Zoloft "SSRIs" is like calling a TCA a "SNRI"..... it's semantics, and the terms are used simply for classification
poster:djmmm
thread:123399
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20021012/msgs/123898.html